The Greatest Sinner

Evan was running away from the monster, trying to escape. He changed trajectory and climbed into hard-to-reach places, but his chaser was destroying everything in its path.

<Fuck, it's slowly catching up to me. It wouldn't be bad to bump it into another monster. But unfortunately, I don't know this area very well. I have no idea where other monsters might live here.>

Evan thought, running into the ravine between the two hills. He had already passed the Lightning Wolf, it was too dangerous to approach it. 

The ravine was safe, there were no living creatures there, just lots of plants. Evan hoped there would be monsters, but he was wrong. All the weak monsters had already escaped from here, they sensed that this was where Evan and his chaser were headed.

As Evan ran out of the ravine, he looked around for other monsters, but he had found quite another thing, to his surprise.

<The village...? >He was a bit confused as he unknowingly led the monster right into the village.

It was not far from the ravine, and the most ordinary people inhabited it. Anyone could think there was no way a village could be in a place that was crawling with monsters. But, there were several reasons for this strange phenomenon.

First, monsters were not interested in ordinary people, of course, this was not a guarantee that a hungry monster could not come and eat them, even though they didn't have a single drop of mana.

This village remained intact and untouched because of its unique location. In front of it, there were two hills and a forest ruled by a Lightning Wolf. Most monsters were afraid to go near it, they had no reason to disturb such a dangerous foe.

However, the village was not only protected from the front but also all other sides. The village was next to a large lake that was home to a relatively strong creature. It was not a monster but a beast. The huge crocodile decided to guard this village, but not out of the goodness of its heart. It was very profitable.

Since the monsters could not attack the village from the front because of the Lightning Wolf, they tried to approach from behind, but the crocodile, which had almost reached the second rank, was waiting for them. The predators became its victims. The village was safe, and the crocodile got its food. For the same reason it decided not to touch people, they were the perfect bait.

On the one hand, the people of this village were lucky, their situation was unique. Thanks to the lake and the safe lands, they had sustenance. As long as they stayed within the crocodile's domain, they had nothing to worry about. But unfortunately, this peace could not last forever.

Evan and the monster chasing him broke it down. Evan ran out of the ravine and found himself not far from the entrance to the village. When people saw the monster, they got scared and scattered around the village.

<I didn't expect to see a village here, how do these people survive here?> Evan thought as he watched as the young black-haired girl, along with her younger brother, ran towards their home.

Roooooooaaaar!

It wasn't long before Evan had the answer to his question. A giant crocodile was on its way to meet them. It was about twice the size of the monster that was chasing Evan.

Evan looked at the crocodile's "Pillar of Soul" and grinned.

<Great, that's the one I was looking for. It's about time I got out of here>. Evan thought and quickly changed his direction. He wanted to leave the monster and the crocodile face-to-face.

Luckily for him, the crocodile was very aggressive. It wanted to kill them both, but as Evan rushed in the other direction, all its attention shifted to the monster.

Evan sighed in relief, but suddenly goosebumps ran down his body. He turned around and saw the monster continuing to run behind him.

"Bitch, you got a few tons of meat in front of you, but you decided to keep chasing me. All right, let's fight." Evan said angrily and cast the "Touch of the Abyss."

He turned and struck the monster with his fist, but it easily dodged his blow and attacked in return. Its clawed paws almost reached Evan, but at that moment, the crocodile's shadow loomed over the two of them. It opened its mouth wide and quickly slammed it shut. The crocodile wanted to swallow both Evan and the monster at once, but it failed.

Thanks to the "Ghost Step," Evan was able to retreat in time. The monster was also fast enough to dodge.

Crack.

The monster got angry and drove its claws into the crocodile's mouth. They started fighting amongst themselves and forgot about Evan for a while.

He backed away and had already covered ten meters when suddenly the crocodile roared. The beast was losing and got very angry.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The ground shook, and out of it came a multitude of stone bayonets. They swarmed the whole area, keeping Evan from escaping. Moreover, each of the bayonets was extremely dangerous and could quickly kill both the monster and Evan.

Rooooaaaar!

To the crocodile's attack, the clawed monster decided to respond with its skill. Suddenly its claws burst into bright flames, and with a simple sweep, it created three flaming blades. They rained down on the crocodile, charring some of its skin. The beast had good defense and high resistance to fire so that such attacks couldn't hurt it much.

But besides the monster, the crocodile, and Evan, there were other players on this battlefield - the villagers.  Not all of the flaming blades hit the crocodile. Some of them hit the village, and a fire broke out there immediately.

Most villagers ran away from the fire in fear, but some brave men tried to put out the fire. Even though powerful creatures were fighting a few meters away, they still found the strength to drag buckets of water.

The crocodile realized that their battle with the monster could destroy the entire village, so it decided to protect it. If the villagers died, the beast would lose an ideal place to live and feed.

It roared furiously and a stone dome formed around the village. Unlike the monster, for the crocodile, people were more valuable alive than dead.

Moreover, the crocodile protected the village and blocked all the exits, creating a high and very strong stone wall. Right in front of Evan's face, now there was an obstacle he could not overcome.

"Damn, do you really think that can stop me?!" Evan mouthed angrily and cast the "Ball Lightning." He intended to destroy the stone wall, but suddenly the monster lunged in his direction.

Despite the furious crocodile, the monster's main target was still Evan.

The monster quickly reached Evan and swung its fiery claws in his direction. Evan frowned and retaliated by attacking with the "Ball Lightning."

Boom.

There was a deafening explosion. To Evan's surprise, the monster remained nearly unscathed.

<Damn, I knew it'd evolved twice, so this is its second ability>, Evan thought as he looked at the monster's crystal armor. The monster quickly created it to minimize the damage from such a powerful electrical discharge.

Crack.

At the exact moment, several stone bayonets appeared from beneath the ground. This attack was unexpected, and one of them grazed Evan's cheek.

"Looks like you two won't let me get out of here. All right, have it your way, I'm going to turn you both into mincemeat!"

The next second one of the sigils on Evan's arms glowed, and he said loudly: "Sigil of 70th Demon - Prince Seere, activation!"