Chapter 33: Into the Wildlands III

With one look, he recognized that it must have been a rank 9 monster who is currently at the ceiling and should be near the Transcendent level.

As the monster and man came face to face with each other, Herbert saw a snake with a body that had the thickness of three grown men clumped together. Its body was long enough for Herbert to not see where it ends. As it raised its three heads to gaze deep into Herbert's soul, a nearby tree had been squeezed to pieces when it realized that none of the Two-Headed Snakes were left alive.

It was furious and ready to pounce at Herbert; however, it did not let its anger cloud its judgment. The Three-Headed Snake also recognized Herbert's capability and did not act rashly. Instead, it eyed the nearby weaker humans that were being protected by Herbert.

Their silence was stifling, but nobody dared to move an inch.

Originally, the place that they were in had been covered by darkness due to the foliage and the thick trees that blocked the sunlight. However, with the movements of the Three-Headed Snake, the trees had been destroyed and Herbert was finally illuminated by a ray of sunlight.

At first, he did not intend to disturb the nearby monster lairs, but who was he to know that the Two-Headed Snakes would migrate into their new hunting spot? If they did not encounter Herbert then they might still have been alive. Unfortunately, there were no ifs in real life.

With the enemy in front of him, what else could he do but kill? Herbert's wings moved and this ushered in a strong gust of wind which made Herbert shoot up to the same level of sight as the Three-Headed Snake in front of him.

Since he was already at it, he might as well consider this his warm-up before he fights the Transcendent-level White-Horned Snake.

As a widely recognized genius, Herbert was unrivaled in fighting anyone who was at the same level, he was even able to fight against those with higher ranks with a relatively weak combat power. However, since he was merely Albert who was playing as Herbert, his powers all come at a cost.

There was a reason why the ritual that he had undergone was considered taboo in the family. Although the ritual needed the sacrifice of other Ravenmoons it wasn't considered too much of a price to pay to achieve greater power.

The real cost of using the ritual was the deduction of the lifespan of the user. As an awakened, his lifespan had been extended by an average of ten years per rank that he crosses.

However, the ritual deducts that lifespan gain by ninety percent which leaves him with the gain of having only a year per rank that he crosses.

But in the eyes of his father, the current patriarch of the Ravenmoon family, this was enough for him to serve his purpose. Although he has yet to prove it, this demerit should disappear once he reaches the level above the Transcendent rank.

Remembering his father at a time like this made him agitated. So, with his sword, he instantly swung at one of the snake's large heads and although he did not manage to completely decapitate it, it was still heavily damaged.

Herbert's movements were swift and agile, each strike was aimed at the Three-Headed Snake's weak points. With his sharp claws, he would occasionally parry the enemy's attack before launching a counter-attack with his sword that would successfully strike at the gaps in its scales.

It takes a lot of skill in swordsmanship to be able to launch pinpoint strikes at soft spots on top of the thick snake's scales as it required, presence of mind, timing, and sufficient physical ability to use the right amount of strength every time.

At first, he would launch a stab before moving to its back and slashing on its back side. His wide array of actions was only possible because the sword that the black feathers had formed did not have the traditional crossguard that most swords have. Instead, he had a V-shaped crossguard which made twisting easier.

His skill with his sword was something that he had polished with years and years of hard work since he was a child. He once thought that as long as he worked hard enough, he might be able to overcome the dividing line that defined what is genius and what is not. Unfortunately, this had never come to fruition.

The soldiers who were watching Herbert's death dance with the Three-Headed Snake were in awe. He was like a shadow that slowly tightened the noose around the rank 9 monster's head.

Those who had been trained by the Ravenmoon still had the presence of mind to take out their bows and launch long-range attacks on the monster. Even though they relatively did minor damage to it compared to Herbert's, their attacks could still serve as a distraction.

Every time the monster wanted to break free from Herbert's barrage of attacks, it would come into contact with another attack from Herbert. With an evil glint in its three pairs of eyes, it opened its mouth wide and spit out an acidic breath in the direction of Princess Amelia and the others. In particular, it made an annoyed glance at the little ants that dared to throw pebbles at it.

But because Herbert was fast enough, he managed to send multiple black feathers to form a shield wall in front of them which essentially served as a barrier.

After knowing that the human fighting him was not only strong but also incomparably agile, it had become afraid and had looked for opportunities to escape. But with Herbert's personality, he would not leave it any chance to return.

It did not take long for their squabble to become more and more intense with Herbert clearly taking the lead with each strike. His advantage was not only based on the strength and speed of his attacks, but also on his mentality.

Watching such a spectacle, even Princess Amelia had been enchanted, she felt that for a moment, Herbert was a fairy that was stepping into midair which painted a wonderful picture in her head. This made her yearning for the Awakening Crystal on Herbert's hands' increase. If only she could become an awakened too.

She almost couldn't get rid of this thought the entire time, however, before she knew it, Herbert had already finished off the Three-Headed Snake.