The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 40: Fellow mercenary

Chapter 40: Fellow mercenary

The creature managed to counterattack with precision, launching direct sword strikes at his head. It wasn’t thinking, but acting on a deadly instinct that knew where its opponent’s weakest spots were and focused on one of them.

Consequently, Zaid focused on dodging its blows. It was difficult. His agility stat was lower than the creature’s overall power. However, he had something the creature lacked: the ability to think and overwhelmingly superior perception. This gave him an overwhelming advantage.

He was able to correctly anticipate each of his moves and dodge them. His counterattack was ineffective, and Zaid’s struck a second later, knocking him to the ground. His bones crumbled to dust with every blow from a hand as hard as iron.

[You have killed a Level 5 Cut-Face Swordsman Zombie]

[You have received ME and PE...]

Zaid didn’t look at the system messages because he was busy with the rabbit that tried to attack him despite being wounded. It didn’t take him long to reduce it to a pulp alongside its undead companion and shatter its bones in the same way.

The fight was over as soon as it began, but there was a brief moment of intensity when the zombie counterattacked. Zaid knew he was in for a tough fight against stronger beasts.

He looked at the bony corpses of his fallen opponents and sighed. ’Too bad I can’t get anything from them. The undead certainly aren’t worth anything.’

Although he did gain PE and ME—which was what he had come for.

Zaid continued to move forward at a brisk but cautious pace. His S-Rank senses took in everything around him.

During the time he’d been using them, he’d noticed that, while he could hear even the faintest sounds over a wide area, when it came to sensing beasts or someone approaching, his range was limited to about 30 meters around him.

Against Rank F and E beasts, the space was wide enough to allow him to stay alert before they could even think of attacking. However, Rank D or higher beasts that rely on speed could surely outmaneuver that limited 30-meter space.

Of course, that’s assuming they were in an open area.

Zaid quickly found his next enemies: more zombies similar to the previous one. He performed exceptionally well in combat, managing to defeat them and closing the gap between his current Level 4 and Level 5.

If possible, he’d like to reach Level 6 tonight; only then could he feel confident enough to take such important academic exams.

A long line of undead began to appear behind him. Most were Level 5, a few were Level 6—which made his life difficult—and none were of a higher level.

It wasn’t until then that he heard the sound of footsteps and felt a slight tremor ripple through the ground.

"Is anyone fighting?" Zaid looked up and gazed into the distance. His eyes widened as he peered through the tree branches, and he managed to make out a battle taking place about 100 meters away.

At that moment, an explosion revealed a massive undead creature wearing sturdy metal armor that seemed to be part of its body, like an extension of itself, and wielding a sword as long as its arm. The undead creature stood about 4 meters tall; its arms measured about 2 meters, and the sword was just as long as its arm.

"You bastard, I didn’t even set foot on your territory!" A man in his mid-twenties roared at it, furious that he’d had to draw this annoying bastard’s attention.

He was armed with a spear larger than himself. His body was covered in full-body bronze armor, though he was not wearing a helmet. This armor was a testament to his wealth and power. His chest was adorned with a token from the Mercenary Guild.

Gold Rank.

An impressive power—surely D Rank.

However, he was struggling as he fought an F-Rank beast, the Level 10 Armored Knight. It’s one of the most difficult beasts for anyone with a physical attribute to kill. Only certain Talents that wield something akin to magic—or mages themselves—can fight these creatures with ease and win.

The mercenary attacked with his spear and struck him, trying to hit the core. The most viable approach was to shatter his heart—which is its core—but it was hidden and protected by armor and bones so hard that reaching it with anything was nearly impossible.

"Shit." The mercenary leaped backward, and the undead attacked him, striking him with such extraordinary force that he was sent flying.

The direction he flew in... was right toward where Zaid was standing.

Zaid dodged and quickly moved away. However, just as he did so, a huge sword blocked his path, and Zaid was swiftly pulled back by the mercenary.

"Never turn your back on this bastard. The Armored Knights take pride in their honor and consider anyone who turns their back on it in battle to be a coward who must die."

Zaid protested, "I’m not in a battle against him!"

"So? He thinks so. I wasn’t there either, and now look at me—I have to look it in the eye all the time."

Zaid couldn’t find the words to reply. That made sense... in a way.

"Are you a mercenary, too?"

"I just signed up," Zaid replied.

"Awesome! I signed up recently, too."

’Signed up recently and already Gold Rank? He’s strong.’ Zaid nodded slightly at him.

"We can’t talk anymore. Give me a hand here." The mercenary shoved him to one side, and he jumped to the other. "I’ll distract him. If you have a dagger or something like that, aim for its heart—any curved weapon will hit it more easily!" he urged.

Zaid was speechless. Was he supposed to fight one of the most dangerous beasts in Rank F? This guy was crazy!

As he fought and constantly opened gaps in the Knight’s defense, the mercenary turned around. "Don’t just stand there—you can’t outrun a stubborn old man anyway! Do as I say!"

Zaid sighed. ’At least I’ll get PE for killing it.’ He looked the Knight straight in the eyes. He could easily tell that the bastard hadn’t taken its eyes off him, even while fighting someone as strong as that mercenary.

Despite that, Zaid managed to close in to a position where he was just about to strike. He watched closely, and thanks to the mercenary’s skill with the spear, a huge opening appeared in the knight’s defense.

Taking advantage of his Rank S senses and keen eyesight, Zaid leaped milliseconds before the opening appeared, so by the time it was there, he was already ready to strike.

He drew his dagger and swung it downward, intending to drive it between the armor from above and thus pierce the heart between the bones.

However, his body collided with something, and he was suddenly knocked backward.

BOOM!

He fell to the ground with a painful thud.

[You have been repelled by the Armored Knight’s "Repelling Armor"]

The message popped up on his screen.

"Great, he doesn’t have that annoying thing anymore—attack him again when you see an opening!"