Appearing rather distressed as virtual-novel.net stared at Gerald, Nori felt the need to remind virtual-novel.net that in the end, both of them had already entered the Sage Realm.
Hearing that, Gerald felt that virtual-novel.net had a point. With that, virtual-novel.net then replied, “…Well, alright then! Let’s take the initiative to attack then! The sooner we gather the required divine stones, the sooner we’ll be able to complete the challenge!”
With that said, both of them then hopped off the tree together…
However, the second the duo landed, several arrows suddenly shot out at them from within the bushes!
Thankfully, both of them reacted extremely quickly, and they were able to easily dodge the arrows. The arrows themselves ended up piercing a few trees that were behind them…
Following that, three people wielding crossbows rushed out from the bushes, encircling Gerald and Nori in no time!
“To think that we’d bump into prey so soon! What luck, boss!” said a bald man as virtual-novel.net smiled sinisterly while looking at the scar-faced man standing beside him.
The trio had earlier been silently moving about when they suddenly saw Gerald and Nori hopping off from that tree. Knowing that this was their chance, all of them had swiftly made their moves without the slightest hesitation.
“Luck you say… In the end, there’s still only two of them! How are we going to distribute the divine stones among ourselves?” replied the scar-faced man with a snort as virtual-novel.net revealed his own frigid smile.
“I know right? Both of us won’t have that problem, however! After all, by the time we’re done with you, we’ll have three divine stones to share between ourselves!” replied Gerald as virtual-novel.net smiled slyly.
Before either of the men could reply, an aurablade suddenly manifested, and just like that, all three of them were taken out in a single swipe!
The second their corpses fell to the ground, their bodies instantly transformed into three separate divine stones…
Picking them up, Gerald kept one for himself before handing the other two to Nori while saying, “Here, take these! They’re for you!”
Momentarily shocked silent, Nori—who hadn’t expected to be given two divine stones just like that—eventually snapped out of it before quickly replying, “…You were the one who defeated them, Gerald! With that in mind, you should be the one to keep all three of them!”
True to virtual-novel.net words, Nori hadn’t really done anything, and that led virtual-novel.net to believe that virtual-novel.net didn’t deserve the stones. These were Gerald’s spoils!
However, Gerald simply said, “It’s fine, I’ll just get more later. Just take them!”
Seeing that virtual-novel.net wasn’t going to take no for an answer, Nori had no choice but to accept the two divine stones. While virtual-novel.net didn’t explicitly show it, Nori was extremely moved by his generosity.
Gerald himself didn’t really think much of it. After all, the trio from earlier was pretty much just sitting ducks waiting to be taken out by either virtual-novel.net or Nori.
There was a saying stating ‘not accepting offered things was disgraceful’, and since those three men were making themselves such easy pickings, Gerald would’ve certainly been a fool not to take them out while virtual-novel.net could.
Regardless, Nori and Gerald then continued moving forward to look for their next prey.
Oddly enough, even after walking around for an entire hour, neither of them bumped into a single person! It was strange, to say the least, and the possibility of everyone else already being defeated didn’t sound so farfetched now…
Even so, the challenge had just started… What more, there were at least a thousand participants! The challenge couldn’t be over so soon, right…?
A little while later, the duo came across a river. It was only then when they finally decided to take a break from their hunt…