4 A Gold Rank Demon Beast

BANG!

The fist collided with Acnologia with all the force of a dump truck and he was sent flying as if he was shot out of a cannon.

Thump!

With an earthshaking bang he smashed into the side of the cliff next to the cave's mouth cracking the stone and leaving behind an actual crater. Acnologia couldn't help but blink in shock as he let out a series of small coughs.

That was the first time he had felt pain in this new world, it wasn't too bad. In fact for a hit that would probably have crushed a tank he had taken very little damage. He realised quickly that the attack hadn't even broken anything, his skin wasn't pierced and he had suffered no real damage. He couldn't help but thank the Gods for giving him Acnologia's body otherwise with his cultivation that hit would have turned him into a pancake.

Pushing his way out of the hole in the cliff he let out an annoyed growl, he was pissed. The transformation into this new body had left him with some new emotions that he had only been discovering the last few days. One of them was a Dragon's pride and right now it was roaring at him to tear this monkey into pieces.

Slamming his foot into the ground with enough force to crack the stone he charged forward, each step was slow and methodical and made a print in the stone. Yet as slow as each footfall was the sheer power in his stride meant he reached the monkey in instant as he aimed to close the gap between them in an flash.

Punching out he tried to nail the monkey in the stomach, unfortunately he wasn't used to fighting creatures much larger than him and the monkey in an impressive display of speed and dexterity managed to dodge to the side before lashing out with another of its own punches.

This one sent Acnologia flying into the forest smashing through at least four trees before he came to a stop at the fifth one which cushioned the blow enough that he didn't go through.

Dropping to the ground he landed in a crouch before narrowing his eyes and growling. Rocketing forward once more he dashed between the trees until he arrived in front of the Demon Beast and lashed out with a series of blows. The monkey who had seemed to at least partially unlocked its Spiritual Wisdom was able to put up an admirable defence as it dodged and manoeuvred around Acnologia's immensely powerful but unskilled strikes.

Acnologia was beginning to get frustrated by his lack of progress and with a growl he disengaged from the fight and his head swivelled around until he was looking at the sword stuck in the head of the Behemoth Lizard, perhaps that would be enough to give him an advantage.

He turned and aimed towards the corpse of the Behemoth Lizard but it seemed like his intentions were seen through by the Snow Wind Great Ape who charged towards him hopping to block him off.

As he was running an idea appeared in his mind as he purposefully slowed his speed slightly allowing the Demon Beast to catch up to him and once more it punched out towards him with the aim of sending him flying only this time he punched back.

Bang!

The two fists met in mid air creating a bang as the air ruptured from the meeting of flesh. Eventually one side had to cave and as Acnologia reduced the amount of strength he was pushing into his arm that side was him.

He was sent flying just as the Ape wanted but unfortunately for the Demon Beast that was exactly what Acnologia wanted as he was sent flying in the direction of the Behemoth Lizard's corpse.

As he skidded to a stop in front of the large beast's corpse he jumped up onto its back and grabbed the hilt of Lamia before pulling her out with a tug, raising her into the air he turned to face the enraged Ape.

Grinning he jumped into the air raising his sword above his head ready to bring down his blade onto the head of the Demon Beasts head. The Ape however seemed to sense something from the sword and manged to back off just in the nick of time before Acnologia would have caved in its head.

Grunting in frustration Acnologia rushed forward swinging his sword towards the Ape only to miss as the Demon Beast managed to keep just out of range.

Across the clearing they continued this too and fro as Acnologia tried to close the gap to kill the Ape who managed to stay just outside of Acnologia's range. The only attacks he could land on the Ape were glancing ones that barely left more than scratch marks.

It was incredibly frustrating for he knew he should be able to kill this Ape with ease considering his physical body put him around the level of a high level Black Gold Rank if not low Legendary and that it was only his lack of skill and practice that was letting him down.

I need to finish this, he thought to himself with a frown as the Ape dodged out of the of one of his sword strikes by hoping backwards in a motion that caused the ground under his feet to shake. He had only been able to cut a small line into the Demon Beats fist.

What could he do to end the fight though he needed this fight over with before it attracted the attention of any other strong Demon Beasts in the area, whilst he could easily fight them he really didn't want to. He wanted to spend this time training before he went out and hunted Demon Beasts.

Gritting his teeth he decided to try something new, the Sword Techniques passed down to him from Chun Hwa might be enough to flip the tables firmly in his favour but there was a problem. They almost all required large reserves of Soul Force, energy he did not currently have but... but if he could pull off part of the technique that might be enough to turn the tide of battle.

But which one, as he was mentally running through the list of techniques in his head he continued his assault on the Ape. The creature seemed to sense his lack of focus and decided to take advantage of it, darting forward it manoeuvred around a swipe of his sword before managing to nail him with a strike that sent him once more flying into the cliff wall.

Now very much annoyed Acnologia pulled himself out of the wall and dropped to the ground. "That's it, your going down!"

Charging forward once more he engaged the Demon Beast with a flurry of strikes before he found an opening in the Ape's defences.

Now! He thought triumphantly before he closed the gape once more as he revolved the Soul Force in his Soul Realm and pushed it into Lamia casing the blade to glow a light almost invisible blue colour before he lashed out with the blade aiming directly towards the Ape's heart.

[Asura Blood Slasher] One of the Sword Techniques passed down to him, it created cones of energy at the end of the blade that would be released each time the swordsmen thrusted forward. ID was capable of creating eleven cones that could rip through an above Legendary Rank opponent in an instant.

Acnologia didn't have the Soul Force to pull off the technique to its true potential but he could form one small weak cone of energy with his reserves and for a weak Gold Rank Beast that was enough.

Striking forward with his sword like a viper he aimed the sword for where he believed the Ape's heart was and let rip his technique.

A flash of weak blue light flared at the tip of Lamia and all of a sudden the Ape spasmed, Acnologia jumped back as it coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the ground. Looking at its chest he could see the results of his Technique.

There was a gouged out cone of flesh and muscle where its heart had been. His technique had done its job and torn through the Ape's heart though it hadn't gone right through the Ape as it should have done, guess he still had a long way to before he could claim to hold mastery over that technique.

With enough force to shake the ground the Ape fell to its knees before collapsing dead onto the forest floor.

Acnologia let out a breath of relief at the sight before a wave of utter fatigue rolled over him and he swayed where he stood and dropped to one knee. Examining his body he quickly realised the issue. He had used up all of his Soul Force in that one technique and it had left his Soul Realm empty of power.

Grumbling to himself as he vowed to get stronger he went into a lotus position and began to cultivate there and then, he only did it for a few minutes to build up some of his lift reserves, it would stop him from collapsing due to the strain his empty Soul Realm put on his body.

Once he was done he stood up and looked down at the corpse in front of him, blinking he wondered what Ape would taste like, oh well there was only one way to find out.

Turns out that it is in fact rather tasty, at least better than the wolf anyway. Idly he wondered if the meat tasted better because the Ape was of a higher Rank or if Ape just tasted better than Wolf. In the end he didn't know and ultimately didn't care.

Lugging it around was a bit of pain and he could only keep it for a small time, the meat would go off otherwise then he would have to dump the rest of the corpse.

For another three weeks he continued this cycle of training day in and out without much rest he had it much easier than normal Human Demon Spiritualists after all, they had to take pills to help boost the strength of their bodies to keep up with their cultivation, he had the opposite problem. His Soul Force was too low to keep up with his body but he was slowly closing the gap. He had even managed to break through into the 5th Star Bronze Rank and was preparing to break through into the Silver Rank much to his joy.

In the end though he decided it was time to move on, he had spent long enough in that cave. So it was with an oddly heavy heart he stood in front of the cave that had been his home for the last three weeks his cloak once more tied around his neck and Lamia transformed into a bracelet around his wrist.

Smiling to himself he took off into the forest ready to begin the next leg of his journey in this new world.