Hatred born from nothing

"Timber!!!!!"

—bang!!!!

The sound of a tree falling to the ground echoed in the depths of the dark woods. Currently, there were two figures standing before the felled tree.

One was Arian and the other was, of course, Leon. After Arian was sentenced to community service, they were dragged to the forest behind the camp to cut down wood for the use of the hunters.

"Hmm" Arian stepped forward and swung an Ax in her hand upwards and….

—crackkk!!!

In one swing, she cut a huge part of the tree in two. Then, like it was paper, she lifted it effortlessly and placed it on her shoulder, all the while ignoring Leon.

After a short while of walking, they came to a clearing with stacks upon stacks of chopped wood placed on the ground. This had been done by Arian and Leon.

"You're So hardworking, I wonder why these guys treat you like this" Leon gave a casual remark while looking at the piles of chopped wood. Arian had been working since morning with no breaks, even though it was humiliating, she just sucked it up.

But Leon could tell that In her heart, there was probably a storm brewing.

"You really need to learn how to stand up for yourself or else they will keep walking all over you. Anyway, it's their loss, if we were on the same side, I would never treat you like that" Leon kept speaking while Arian carried the trunk of wood across the opening.

—Boom!!

When she got to the particular distance, she threw the trunk to the ground and proceeded to walk towards Leon.

—click

—click

—click

She removed several keys and started loosening Leon's chains. After that, she handed him the Ax and said.

"Chop wood and keep shut"

After saying these words, she walked to the side and sat on a log of wood. She was exhausted from all the work and decided to let Leon take the wheel. As for Leon's sentiments about her situation, she didn't want to think about it.

"Hmmm, I'm here to serve" Leon picked the Ax and walked up to the trunk of wood and began chopping.

His breakthrough to level 1 had improved his physical strength by several folds, so he chopping wood was like child's play to him.

—chop

—chop

Leon got down to business, the faster they got this done, the earlier they would be allowed to go back.

Unfortunately, things were much more complicated than they seemed on the outside.

—whoosh

—woosh

—woosh

In the dark veil of the night. Several shadows cloaked in darkness could be seen sneakily approaching the clearing.

"They are here"

Leon said causally, while the corner of his eyes focus on a seemingly empty space inside the forest.

"I know" Arian had an ugly look on her face. Someone was out to get her, that much was clear. But who? She had offended quite a lot of people, but to the point of creating this whole facade to get her? That was too much.

"I'll handle it myself. Butt out" Arian said to Leon after seeing him tightly gripping onto his hidden dagger. She didn't want Leon involved, the fact that he had already entered level 1 was still a secret. If her enemies caught a whiff of it, they would try to accuse her of incompetence.

—shhh

She drew out the sword on her waist and slowly began walking towards the forest....

—boooo!!!

A gust of wind picked up all of a sudden as a brutish figure cloaked in the black dashed out of the forest, approaching her very fast.

A moment later.....

—Clang

They clashed

—Clang

—cing

—shhh

In a brief few seconds, they exchanged a furry of attacks, causing the sound of iron striking iron to reverberate throughout the forest.

—woosh

—woosh

—woosh.

While Arian and the brutish man were going at it, about six other figures emerged from the darkness, equip with chains and slowly surrounded Arian and the Brutish man.

(It's them, huh?)

Leon was able to quickly identify the identities of their attackers from their movements. It was Anan's cronies.

—woooo

From behind Leon, a chain cloaked in the darkness barreled towards him, aiming directly for his neck.

"Hmp!!"

But it couldn't escape Leon perception,

Leon looked back with the side of his eyes and...

—Woosh

With a simple side step, Leon was able to dodge the attack successfully.

About 30 meters away from Leon, a shadow stood covered by the shade of the night. But even with the darkness, Some of his features still stood out.

His build, the arrogance in his stance and his choice of weapon. However, all these couldn't compare to the most recognizable feature of the young man.

His eyes, they were akin to that of an exploding supernova. It was peculiar and strange, most of all, it was beautiful.

The person who had sneaked attack Leon was none other than Anan.