They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 61: Thank You, Gentlemen
Wells kicked away the hound lunging at him, then hastily adjusted his stance and deflected an arrow aimed at his face.
By the time he finished, the hunter opposite him had opened another seven or eight paces of distance.
Ralph had told him to deal with the hunter, but the man and his dog made it two against one!
Wells would be lucky if they did not wear him down from a distance.
The battle had begun without warning. One moment, Ralph had been trying to buy the opposing party’s unused monster carcasses from their leader. The two men were arguing over the price.
The next moment, the other party attacked.
Their Dwarf had been caught off guard and wounded in the arm, putting Wells’s side at a serious disadvantage.
What Wells could not understand was why the other party had attacked first. His group had not obtained the A-grade Mana Crystal.
Even if his party was at a disadvantage, they could still fight back. A battle to the end would inevitably leave both sides devastated. That small piece of A-grade Mana Crystal was valuable, but not valuable enough to gamble their lives over.
Could someone in the other party be using them to eliminate a few companions and claim a larger share?
No. That plan would be both absurdly risky and stupid.
Wells tilted his head and evaded another arrow, this one clearly enhanced by a spinning skill. In the spare instant, he checked on his companions.
Ralph was locked in combat with the opposing leader. Both specialized in Agility. Every exchange looked perilous to Wells, yet neither had suffered a truly fatal wound.
Ginny remained in a relatively safe position, healing the Dwarf. After a wash of gray-white light, his condition improved dramatically.
Ginny noticed Wells as well and showed no favoritism. The same gray-white radiance descended over him.
An endless surge of power filled Wells’s body.
He felt capable of anything!
The hound lunged from the side again. At the same moment, the hunter loosed two arrows in rapid succession. One flew straight for Wells’s face, while the other sealed off his route of retreat.
That attack might have overwhelmed him moments ago.
But now?
Wells snapped his longsword upward and knocked aside the frontal arrow, then brought the blade down at the oncoming hound.
His speed and strength vastly surpassed what he had displayed before.
The hound’s savage barking turned into a whine as the sword fell. A wound ran from its shoulder and neck to its belly, nearly killing the beast outright. Gravely injured, it could only flee into the distance.
Wells’s chest rose and fell. Excitement brought color to his cheeks.
He raised his head and stared at his opponent with battle lust in his eyes.
This time, the hunter would become the prey.
Still, had he overlooked something?
Right. Where was the mage?
In the mushroom forest, Evan’s enforcement squad appeared to have lost its chance to intervene.
The two adventuring parties had not remained inside the cavern. They had moved the battlefield outside.
Since the bulwark Puffcap and the items in its belly were unharmed, this conflict between humans had nothing to do with him.
The battle also seemed close to ending.
The Dwarf had been ambushed and the mage had slipped away. Even so, the woman called Ginny had repeatedly cast Potential Surge, ruthlessly squeezing strength from her companions until her party’s combat power surpassed the enemy’s by a considerable margin.
Those men would probably spend half a month bedridden after the fight. Their opponents had every reason to lose.
Clang!
After deflecting Ralph’s blade yet again, the opposing leader abruptly retreated several paces and pulled the A-grade Mana Crystal from his clothes.
“We’re done! We surrender! Take the Mana Crystal and let us leave, or I’ll detonate it!”
He poured mana into the crystal, making it blaze with dazzling violet light. The man actually possessed a Mana Control skill.
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