Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 122

Chapter 122: Just a hunter
‘Shit!’

This was the only thought in Alex’s head as he lay still in the shallow hole, staring right at the group of mercenaries confusedly observing his body.

“Hi…”

He let out an awkward greeting to break the ice between the two parties, which only led to further confusion among the mercenaries.

Alex had only just absorbed the second soul orb just moments prior to being found, so he had to do his best to buy himself some time before these mercenaries found out what happened here.

But then again, with their level of deductive reasoning, Alex doubted they’d even consider him to be a part of what happened here…

Aside from that, all Alex needed to do was buy himself a minute at most to completely heal his injuries, and then another minute on top of that for his energy to refill.

“Who are you? And how on earth are you still alive?” Carter was the first to wake up from his stupor, and he immediately started asking questions.

Alex’s thoughts ran wild through his mind as he did his best to come up with a plausible explanation that these men would believe.

“I’m a hunter, I came to these woods to hunt! Then the next thing I know, there was a loud bang and that was all I could remember before I woke up in this hole. Ughh, thank you so much for digging me out, I can’t imagine what would have happened to me if you didn’t find me in time!”

Alex pushed his acting skills to the maximum, giving them the first-long explanation he could think of.

But it seemed the mercenaries actually believed his story, as their faces started to become a little less weary and were replaced with pity as they looked at Alex.

Like he said, if his story were true then he’d have likely ended up suffocating to death if they hadn’t found him, at least according to his story.

Of course Alex didn’t mention that he was a Mutant class E tier awakened, or his story wouldn’t make any sense at all.

However, while most of the mercenaries had already been convinced, their leader Carter still wore a frown on his face.

“You’re a hunter? Hunting out here… at midnight?”

Carter questioned him further.

‘Fuck, I forgot what time it was.’

But Alex with his quick thinking mind managed to spur up a response in no time.

“Of course, don’t you know most of the beasts in this forest are nocturnal? If I went out hunting during the day, I’d end up going back home without a single kill to my name…”

Alex completely made this up.

He had absolutely no idea what types of beasts roamed these forests apart from that pack of monkey beasts he had taken out.

But taking the fact that these men were mercenaries into account, he was hoping that they wouldn’t have much knowledge in hunting, which he was confident about from their lack of progress in finding the monkey beasts.

Mercenaries were warriors for hire, and most jobs they took on were simple like protecting a merchant’s caravan from attacks, acting as a police force etc.

It was very rare that they get hired to do something like tracking down a beast in a forest as huge as this one.

Doing that was like asking them to find a needle in a haystack.

‘Now that I think about it, it is kinda weird that the Count hired mercenaries to do the job, rather than actual hunters or at least adventurers who had more experience in tracking down beasts.’

Alex grew a little concerned at first, but those emotions quickly died down the more he thought about it.

‘Nah, the reports said that the monkeys had already taken many victims, many of which were hunters. Maybe all of the hunters and adventurers the Count would have hired have already been killed by the very things they were supposed to track down!’

Barely half a second had passed for Alex to process these thoughts, and he had kept a close eye on the reactions of the mercenaries, in particular their leader, Carter.

If they didn’t buy his story of being a hunter, then he’d have to buy himself some time another way.

He could tell that Carter was a D- rank, but he didn’t know if he was a Mutant class or not.

If Alex were in his peak form, then he wouldn’t have much of an issue in killing Carter, it would just take some time with all of the other mercenaries interfering.

But with the way he was now, he’d stand no chance.

“Well alright then, your story checks out. Men, fetch some gauzes and the rest of the medical supplies and help our lucky friend here out of this hole! Come on, chop chop! We still have some more digging to do!”

Carter shouted out some orders, thankfully he bought Alex’s makeshift story and even ordered his men to help Alex out and dress his wounds.

‘Wow, these guys must be on the nicer side of the mercenaries I’ve come across in this godforsaken realm. I guess I’ll spare their lives for taking my loot — I’ll just take a finger or two off of anyone I see with a beast core.’

“Thank you so much!” Alex thanked Carter enthusiastically, but he had already left the area by that point to go find a spot to dig as well.

‘These guys sure love money. Though I guess that makes sense considering the only reason they’re out here is because the Count is paying them handsomely. I wonder what their reactions would be if they found out the beast cores they ‘found’ are actually Mutant class.’

A few mercenaries moved Alex’s body over to somewhere more sanitary and safe and started to prepare his arms, legs, head etc for the dressing of his wounds.

But…

“Hey, I swear your body was half burned to a crisp just 20 seconds ago…”

One of the younger, scholarly looking mercenaries spoke up when he was prepping Alex’s body.

Hearing this, Alex could only sigh.

“Hah, I’m sorry about this, kid.”

Whack!

He knocked the boy with a swipe to the back of his neck, and he was passed out before he even hit the ground.