“My luck sucks...”
Cold sweats flows on the adventurer’s Luke’s body as he tries to ran away from a very angry and large red lizard known as the fiery salamander while carrying a large red egg the size of a large melon.
“All I did was stole an egg… It’s not like you won’t be laying more eggs, right?” Luke complained loudly.
As if able to understand what Luke was saying, the giant fiery salamander roared angrily.
Damn human. How about you try laying eggs before saying that again to me? The salamander seemed to say.
“This is not looking good… The effect of the wind talisman is almost over.” Luke said to himself with a grim expression on his face. “Should I try fighting it?”
Luke entertained the thought of fighting the salamander but quickly dismissed the idea. Not only are salamanders very large; they can also spew out strange and disgusting liquid that could burn a person to death once hit.
If would be one thing if Luke still have his previous equipment and magic tools. But with his current equipment, fighting the furious salamander would just be courting death.
“I shouldn’t have gambled everything I own that day…”
Indeed. The reason that Luke was in his current predicament was because he had gambled and lost all of his equipment two days ago in a game of dice to other adventurers while under the influence of alcohol.
Drunk and upset, Luke argued and fought with the other adventurers because he felt that they had cheated. And because everyone involved was under the influence of alcohol, the brawl actually causes quite a stir in the city. Basically speaking, there was unrest in the city that night.
After a night in prison, Luke was released to society again. Now fully sober, Luke was desperate to recoup his loses. But since he has no money, he could only take a loan just so he could equip himself.
Unfortunately, he’s reputation wasn’t that stellar because of his gambling addiction so very few were willing to lend him money. As such he could only afford ordinary equipment.
As silver ranked adventurer just below the gold and platinum rank, and above stone, copper, iron, and bronze, Luke is quite strong himself. He has no problem defeating monsters like goblins, kobolds, and orcs by himself even with his current equipment.
But fiery salamanders are different. To kill one, at least two well-equipped silver ranked adventurers are needed. A well-equipped gold ranked adventurer could make sport of fiery salamander but not Luke.
“Damn it… Why did I even take this quest?”
The quest he’s currently taking was issued by an alchemist who was willing to pay a large sum of money for a fiery salamander’s egg.
For an adventurer desperate for money, the reward for the quest was very tempting. Moreover, it was a quest targeted towards silver ranked adventurers like him.So against his better judgment, Luke took the quest.
“I can’t run anymore…”
With the effect of the wind talisman gone, Luke knew that there’s zero chance that he could outrun the monster. Seeing the fiery salamander unwilling to let him go, Luke could only return the egg if he wanted to escape his current predicament alive.
Having made a decision, Luke used all of his remaining strength and throws the melon-sized egg towards the fiery salamander – hoping that the monster would stop chasing him. But to his horror, the salamander ignored the egg and lunges at him!
“You’ve got to be kidding me?!” Luke curses as he dodges to his right. “I’ve already returned your egg. So what more do you want?”
In response to Luke’s question, the fiery salamander opened its large maw and spew out some strange liquid towards the adventurer –forcing him to roll to ground to avoid the attack.
The strange liquid hits a bush which instantly catches fire. Seeing what happened to the bush, Luke could not help but let out a surprise gasp. Unfortunately, the fiery salamander isn’t done venting yet.
The monster’s crimson eyes eyed Luke as if it won’t stop until it kills the interloper that dared to break into its nest and stole one of its eggs.
“I guess I’ll have to fight it out with you, huh?”
Knowing that he could only fight the monster if he wanted to survive, Luke brandished his sword and jumped at the fiery salamander.
Having attacked first, Luke was able to hit and wound the monster.
Unfortunately for him; the beast’s thick hide meant that his inferior iron sword could only inflict a shallow wound to it.
Although Luke failed to seriously injure the monster, he did succeed in thoroughly enraging it. Following an enrage roar, the salamander swiped at Luke with its whip like tail.
Unable to dodge and left without a choice, Luke could only use his sword to block the attack.
Luke’s iron sword was unable to contain the force behind the fiery salamander’s tail attack and was broken in half. Moreover, the excess force of the tail attack hit him on the chest which sends him flying by at least a dozen meters.
“Damn it… My sword…” Luke cursed.
Despite being in a sorry state, Luke was more worried that his sword broke (which he has yet to fully pay) instead of his own safety.
Luke stood up with greatly difficulty and eyed the fiery salamander which for some reason didn’t attack him when he was still lying helplessly on the ground.
“Is this it? Am I going to die here?” Luke asked himself with some regret. “I haven’t even confessed to Edda yet…
Feeling regretful, Luke readied himself for the inevitable. But before the monster could give him the finishing blow, its body suddenly peppered with arrows.
“Run you fool!”
Hearing the familiar voice of a woman, Luke acted on instinct, turned around and used what little strength remained on his battered body to run away.
