Everybody has fire in their eyes like they were rooting for their chicken in a gambling den. But the hype immediately died down as Kane finally admitted.
"Help me! The potion effects wore off!"
Because the duration of his Metamorphosis elapsed, the bonuses he got from the goblin form also wore off. Since he was no longer an Alchemist, all of his buffs from the potions faded.
As Kane has been fighting consecutive battles nonstop, his legs gave up that the creature reached him.
BAM!
Kane was sent flying straight at the prison walls. As he banged into the walls, the prisoners tried to reach him.
"Hey, boy! Help us!"
"I have a family! Please help me!"
"I didn't really borrow anything at all!! They just imprisoned me here! Please help me!"
But Kane ignored them because they would just be an additional burden for him.
"I'm a Royal Knight, let me out so that I can help you!"
Or not really. As soon as hearing that, Kane tried to open the gates, but he couldn't do it just like before. He wandered around the cells to find a weapon and eventually arrived at the door where the creature came from.
Since Kane was thrown very far away, the creature looked for another target and noticed the group of people on the ship. Boogie's thugs, Bannermanner, Melodia, Melo, and Melo's remaining crewmembers ran to the ship's inner side to hide. However, they were eventually cornered.
Bannermanner tried to fight once again, but he was still heavily injured from his battle against Boogie.
WHOOSH!
Melo immediately grabbed Bannermanner's sword instead and rushed toward the monster.
"BOSSSS!!"
Melo's men applauded their leader's courage. Melo dodged the monster's first attack by sliding down. He reached outside the ship and used himself as bait.
"Catch me if you can!!"
He turned around and ran at full speed.
SLASH!
But it didn't even take a second before the monster slashed at his back. Melo fell to the ground and got his leg fractured. Melo jammed his sword to the ground, just like what Bannermanner did to get away. But this wasn't Boogie. This was a monster.
The creature grabbed Melo and shoved him in her mouth.
"Hey! You shit! Look at this!"
The monster paused upon hearing somebody scream. Because of that, Melo managed to free himself from the creature's grip.
"Yoohoo! Look at this!"
Kane was shouting with a corpse wrapped in white cloth beside him. Kane mockingly tapped the corpse's head.
"This was you, right? Don't worry, I even covered it with a white cloth."
"GWAAHHH!!"
The growl echoed throughout the cave that it resumed the falling of boulders. Kane immediately grabbed the light-weighted corpse before running away.
The monster tried to chase him, but Kane managed to run away because Boogie's thugs were no longer there to block him. Upon the two of them left the cave, everything was silent.
Just like that, they were all saved. Melodia couldn't believe it.
"What the hell just happened?"
Kane finally came out of the cave's hidden entrance.
BANG!
The massive entity smashed her way out of the cave to chase Kane. Even if Kane had a ridiculous movement speed, his speed and the creature's speed were just the same because of its gigantic size.
Knowing that the creature will eventually catch him, Kane deliberately ran toward the city gates.
"HELP!! FUCKING CITY!! THERE'S A GIANT MONSTER IN YOUR FUCKING GATES!! HELP!!"
But as soon as the guards saw him being chased by the massive monster, they closed the city gates.
BAM!
Kane slammed on the door and was abandoned all by himself.
"Hey! This is human abuse! I have rights! How could you let a person die out here?!"
"You're a wanted person, dumbass!"
"Ah, then, I surrender! Arrest me!"
"Let's just skip the steps. Let's say this will now be your execution."
"What do you mean it's my execution? Are you the judge, you motherfucker?! Hey! Open up! Let me talk to the manager!"
But his efforts were futile as the guards even removed the torches to prevent the monster from seeing them.
Kane slid down away from the gate to dodge the monster's attack.
BAM!
The monster slammed hard on the gates that one of its big doors fell down. The citizens who saw the massive monster screamed before fleeing.
"Kyaaaaa!"
"Aaaahhhh! There's a monster!"
Despite that, the monster still chased Kane! He was forced to continue running away before the beast could reach him. Everyone ran away except for Detective Hallow, who was with the crowd.
Instead, Kane was still chased that he had no choice but to continue running away. The citizens and other players saw the commotion. At that same time, Detective Hallow was also present. He looked at the situation and saw the cursing Paragon on the other side of the gates.
"Fuck you and your city! Fuck everybody in this stupid shitty city!"
While running away, Kane passed through a cemetery. And then he looked back and forth at the corpse that he was carrying. An idea entered his mind.
"Ahhhh, shit! I hope this works! I need to find something to slow this guy down!"
Kane decided to enter the forest, hoping to slow the creature down. But the monster kept on knocking down the trees. Luckily, the accumulated trees that it knocked fell on top of the beast itself.
But it only held the monster for a few seconds before clawing her way out. Almost half of the forest ended up getting sliced in half. The monster came out of the woods, but Kane couldn't be found.
However, Kane couldn't hide the power emitted by Paragons that the monster easily followed the scent and ended up in a small crater. The crater that was left after the Elder Treant died, and Kane was inside of it.
The monster leaped down to the middle of the crater and opened its mouth to eat Kane. Seeing that the massive shadow completely blocked the moonlight, Kane knew that the monster was just right behind him.
BITE!
Kane was gnawed but softly that it didn't hurt. The beast released him a second after seeing a bundle of flowers on top of a corpse.
Her corpse.
'Is it working?! Fuck it. This is just a video game, but I'm terrified as hell!'
The monster slowly crawled beside her dead body. Kane could see that her pitiful gaze was focused on the flower that he placed on top. The corpse that Kane wrapped in white cloth was barely recognizable as most of it already decomposed.
Suddenly, a clump of soil was hurled on the of the corpse.
"GRRRRRRRRRRR!!"
The monster glared at Kane, who was throwing the soil.
"Wait! Wait! Chill. Chill. I don't mean any harm."
The monster was still glaring at Kane, but he continued digging with his hands while his legs were shaking in fear.
'Fuck this shit! One mistake, and I'll die!'
[Since you're not using a suitable item for mining, production yield will be reduced by 50%.]
[You will now receive damage for using your hands for digging.]
[You received 5 damage.]
'Damn it! My HP is less than half HP after this bitch hurled me. How long can I do this without dying?'
Kane looked back at the monster, hoping that he could just escape, but no. The beast was right in front of him, ready to eat him.
'RIP. Let's just die later.'
[You received 5 damage.]
[You received 5 damage.]
***
"Yaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!"
The people of the Herald City finally gained the courage to track down the monster that was haunting their nights. They were scouting the city's outskirts, carrying high-quality weapons up to useless weapons like a frying pan.
Suddenly, they saw a lot of dirty and injured people walking on the streets. The townsfolk immediately approached them.
"You there! Why do you look like that? Did the monster attacked you?!"
"No. We were held captive at the cave over there."
The residents shifted their gaze and saw Boogie's massive cave.
"Huh?! I never heard there was a cave like that in this place."
***
A few hours later, the sun already rose up. Kane had his hands covered with blood after digging for hours. But his efforts were not wasted, as the small created was finally filled. After spending some hours, he was no longer at the monster beside him. Even the monster itself was no longer hostile toward him.
Now that everything was over, Kane clapped his bloody hands.
"Now, there it is! Do you have a name?"
But the monster was just looking at him with surprised eyes. Kane realized that the monster wouldn't give him an answer.
Kane scribbled something on the wooden panel and placed it on top of the grave, finishing the gravestone.
HERE LIES THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN. MAY YOUR BEAUTY BE REMEMBERED.
Kane faced the monster.
"Don't worry. I'll remember you. I will."
Kane knew what it felt like. That feeling where everybody abandoned you like you never even existed.
The giant black monster slowly disintegrated. Its hideous body slowly crumbled, showing the woman in white underneath. Even if she was covered in white, Kane could see the shining water coming from her eyes.
She was crying. She opened her mouth, trying to weep, but no sound was coming out. Kane just faced her and grabbed her.
"It's okay now. It's okay. It's time to take a rest."
The spirit started turning into white dust and floated to the sky. Kane patted her back until she fully left.
"Thank you..."
Out of all the trouble that the woman gave to Kane, they were the only words that she could say. But it was enough for Kane.
The spirit was gone, and the only thing left was a white ball floating in front of Kane.
[Do you want to eat or assimilate this soul?]
[This is a Purified Soul.]
[Eating or Assimilating a Purified Soul will yield extraordinary rewards.]
"If only someone also hugged me and patted my back, will things get better for me?"
Kane gladly threw the ball up to the sky, releasing it to where it should be.
[You received a Blessing]
[Blessing of the Forgotten Woman]
[Description: This will activate when your health falls below 10%. When activated, your health will increase by 500 HP]
Kane's character might be looking up in the sky with sadness in his eyes, but Kane was actually tearing up in the real world. He could relate to the woman's despair.
'Fuck this game. I can't believe that it's also hurting me mentally and emotionally.'
Kane's VR goggles started to fog, because of his tears, that he failed to notice Detective Hallow walking toward him.
[Night of the Herald Quest Completed]
[Reward: +100 Reputation in Herald City, +10 FAME, +100 Gold]
[Bonus Reward: Blessing of the Forgotten Woman]
***
With that, Kane successfully skipped to the last phase of the Tutorial Questline. But aside from Detective Hallow, there was also another person watching the event.
Chaos Revenant, who was calmly sitting on a fallen free, saw everything that happened. Apart from his upgrading his equipment for another time, he has a ship ticket in his hand.
Just like Kane, Chaos Revenant nearly finished the entire Tutorial Questline in one day.