Chapter 17: Into the wilderness After deciding the place, they set out immediately. They took a heavily armed car, drove to the city gate, showed their papers, and exited with a loud boom. Inside the car, Tyson was driving. Lukas turned to Ethan and asked, "Hey brother, are you feeling nervous? Do you know about the monsters in the wilderness?" Ethan replied, "Yeah, we studied them in school. By the way, Brother Lukas, what kind of monsters are in Area-37? What are their levels?" Lukas thought for a moment. "Mainly, the monsters there are low-level. Most are warrior grade . Every once in a while, you might see some master realm monsters. As for types—Shadow Cats are the most common, then Flame Wolves. The Shadow Cat is named for its speed and ability to blend into darkness with its black fur. They’re about the size of a tiger. Flame Wolves get their name from their appearance. As they have a trace of fire around them and produce heat when they want. Ethan had read about these monsters in books, but he knew reading and actually fighting them were two very different things. Their car sped along the road. Mike looked at Rin and teased, "Yo Rin, look who’s waiting for us on the road! Your darling’s here, waiting for you to embrace him with your loving bullet." Everyone burst into laughter. Rin, being a quiet girl, was often teased like this. She simply snorted and looked ahead. A large, tiger-type monster was blocking the road, crouched in position as if ready to pounce on the car at the right moment. It was a Silver-Toothed Tiger—about the size of a car. This was clearly a master realm beast. Rin pulled out her Venom X7 sniper rifle and aimed through the car’s open roof. With a silent whoosh, the bullet fired and pierced the tiger’s skull directly. The beast dropped dead on the spot. Ethan was surprised. Rin was an incredibly capable fighter. No wonder this was the best team the supervisor could find for him. "Sister Rin is amazing," Ethan said with admiration. Rin gave Tyson a snort but looked softly at Ethan. She didn’t say anything. Ethan didn’t mind. He asked, "Captain, should we take the tiger with us?" Remond replied, "That 500 kg tiger? Where would we put it? We’ll just cut off the valuable parts like the skin, bones, and teeth." Ethan nodded and joined the others in harvesting the materials. He carefully observed the process. Knowing a monster’s anatomy was crucial for both killing efficiently retrieving valuable parts. After that, they didn’t encounter any more monsters. Soon, they arrived at a military camp 50 km away from the city. Lukas said, "We restock our supplies here. We can also take breaks during hunting." Ethan nodded. Remond added, "Take some rest. We’ll head out in the evening." Ethan asked, "Why in the evening, Captain?" Remond smiled. "Because nighttime is better for hunting low-level monsters. Plus, it gets very hot during the day out there." Ethan responded with an "Oh," but just then, they noticed another team approaching. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 Everyone turned to look. The man leading the other group saw Remond and smirked. "Yo, since when did the Twin Sword team start taking quasi-warrior brats into their ranks? Are you guys running a babysitting service now?" His teammates burst out laughing. Remond squinted at the man and said, "Eric Silva. What does the famous Venom fang team want with us? Do you have a problem with Ethan?" Ethan looked at the speaker and was surprised. Eric Silva... Mark’s grandfather? So he came here to stir trouble with me, huh? Ethan thought to himself. Eric snorted coldly. "Remond, hand over that brat. Give me some face. He beat my grandson badly. I need to punish him." Remond was surprised. He turned to Ethan. "Ethan, what’s this about?" Ethan explained everything that had happened. After hearing the full story, Remond snorted. "Huh, what a big tone you have, Eric. Clearly, your grandson provoked an official warrior and now you want to reclaim his dignity?" Eric’s eyes widened. "What did you say? He’s a warrior? He just awakened three days ago! Who the fuck are you trying to fool?" Now it was Remond’s team’s turn to widen their eyes like footballs. "What? Ethan awakened three days ago?" They all looked at Ethan, utterly confused. Ethan rubbed his nose and nodded. Remond burst out laughing like a madman. "Hahahahaha! No wonder the supervisor himself asked our team to take care of his first hunt! We’ve struck gold! We’ve got a monster on our team! Hahahahaha!" All members of the Twin Sword team were excited beyond words. Eric, on the other hand, stood frozen like a wooden statue. "W-what? The supervisor personally arranged the hunting team... for Ethan? How?" Cold sweat dripped down his neck. He knew very well what kind of figure the supervisor was. That was a King realm powerhouse. Remond looked at Eric with a smirk. "Hey Brother Eric. I know you’re a man of justice. You can’t possibly let your grandson get beaten up and just let it go, right? I’ll hand Ethan over to you so you can punish him." Ethan was stunned. Good lord, this captain sure knows how to do sarcasm. He also wore a sarcastic expression. Eric and his team looked like they’d swallowed giant rats. Eric’s throat suddenly felt dry. Who the fuck stole my water bottle? Then, he forced a laugh. "Hehe, what are you saying, Brother Remond? Mr. Ethan is an upright man. He didn’t do anything wrong. It was my worthless grandson who failed to recognize Mount Everest and provoked him. I’ll surely teach him a lesson. It was my failure as a grandfather." He then turned to Ethan. "We made a mistake, Mr. Ethan. Please don’t hold a grudge against us. This is a Level 5 master-grade monster we killed today. Please accept it as a gift to celebrate your first hunt. We wish you the best of luck." Remond didn’t accept the gift right away. He looked to Ethan—it was his grudge, after all. But Ethan stepped forward with a smile. "You are very kind, Mr. Eric. There’s no need to do this. Please say hello to Mark for me." He then accepted the gift without even blinking. Eric’s mouth’s corner twitched violently, but he kept his brightest smile. There goes my 50 million. What can I do? I raised a dumbass grandson, so naturally, I have to pay. After parting ways, all the members of the Twin Sword team burst into laughter. Mike even fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. Ethan laughed along with them. Remond patted his shoulder and said, "Don’t forget us, brother, when you soar into the sky." Ethan replied, "How could that be, Captain? You’re the first captain of a team I joined. You’ll naturally be able to brag your whole life that you were my captain. Maybe some pretty old lady will be interested in you too in the future." He said it with a very sincere look. Remond’s mouth twitched. This Ethan is shameless. He coughed slightly and said, "Anyway, go get some rest. We’ll head out in an hour." After an hour, they parked their car in the camp and entered the wilderness on foot. As they ventured deeper, the howls of monsters echoed through the forest. Ethan was excited—this would be his first real battle. After ten minutes of searching, a pack of Flame Wolves appeared in front of them. Remond assigned targets, dividing the monsters among the team. Ethan was given a Level 1 warrior grade wolf. "Go ahead," Remond said. "Don’t be nervous. Fight with all your heart." Ethan’s blood was boiling. Though he was far stronger than this wolf, this was still his first real monster fight. It felt like a dream come true. He drew Frostmourne, suppressed his strength to the level of a level 1 warrior, and dashed toward the wolf.