〖Violet Tiger〗

~January 10, x777~

Nick is traversing the lushly unnamed forest, with large trees around him and two-meter tall grasses. The ancient feeling that the vines are emitting and the strangely quiet atmosphere around him made him even more vigilant than be relaxed.

In a deep forest like this one, especially on the inner regions, it was really a bad thing for one to lose their vigilance as danger might appear any minute. Nick is walking slowly, steady and firm, his eyes are scanning his surroundings with his sense on full alert.

He does not want to become food for any beast and he had no plan on becoming one. It had already been three days since he first started his journey and from the first day he had ever set his foot in the inner region of the forest, he can already feel a lot of eyes staring at him.

Beasts will be pouncing at him from time to time, this made Nick become very vigilant and ever since the day he had come her he had not put his guard off even in the slightest bit. Even when he is asleep, he will still be spreading his senses from afar so that any suspicious movement will be detected by him instantly.

*shuuu

A violet streak of light suddenly shot towards Nick, he becomes alerted immediately as he jumped backward to dodge this violet light.

*boom

When it landed, Nick saw what that violet streak of light was. It was a rank C beast known for its speed and very cruel nature. The Violet Tiger.

It had a body covered completely with violet fur, it had a large body of about two meters in height and mostly three-meters in length. But its body mass seems to be not affecting its speed judging by its dramatic entrance from earlier.

If Nick was slower, he would have been split into two by now. Nick looked at the tiger in front of him with a serious expression on his face.

Although he had already been against a lot of beasts they were only mostly rank E or D. He was not sure whether he will be able to defeat this rank C Violet Tiger in front of him. It is known that even rank B mages will still have a hard time fighting it alone.

It had great speed, sharp claws and most importantly, it is an intelligent beast that knows how to read it's opponent's movement. So the best way to hunt a Violet Tiger was to kill it instantly or else suffer the most gruesome death they could even think of.

Nick never thought that he would be encountering a Violet Tiger just as he started his journey, he felt really unfortunate to meet one. But that didn't scare him even the slightest bit, even though he is worried that he might not be able to kill it easily.

He is still confident in his skills that he will be able to kill it, a little bit barely of course and also sustaining some injuries.

The two of them stared at each other for several minutes. The Violet Tiger was eyeing Nick like he was a dead man, it had already thought that Nick will be its dinner. It had not even though the possibility that Nick is a dangerous one and should not be underestimated.

Nick didn't wait for it to move as he was the first one to initiate the attack, he used [Fire Bullets] towards it. He was not hoping much from those bullets as he already knew that it would be easily dodged by the Violet Tiger.

The Violet Tiger easily dodge it, then it was enraged and turns into a streak of violet light and shoots towards Nick. Nick saw this and took out a sword from his space storage, it was a one-meter long sword that has a silver shine on its blade. Although it was only made of ordinary iron, it was enchanted by his magic which makes it sharper and more durable.

He had also learned a sword technique which was called Sixty-Four Azure Strikes. The reason that it was called the Sixty-Four Azure Strikes is that the strength lies unto the number of strikes received by the opponent.

It is a special technique that amplifies the attack every time it hit the target. For someone to reach the sixty-fourth strike, one must have the power of a god for them to receive it. If not, then even their soul will not be left.

Nick's sword then glowed with azure light, he swings it towards the incoming violet light. When it collided, it sent the violet light flying towards a tree.

*bang

When the violet light hit the tree is then transformed back to a Violet Tiger, but there was not a visible wound on its forehead. It was not too deep since Violet Tigers are known for also having hard skin.

That is the reason while even rank A mages wish not to encounter this annoying beast. But despite all of that, another thing to take note of is that it had one of the most delicious meat. Which is widely sought after but have no stable supply because of the difficulty of finding and killing one?

Nick really wants to have a taste with this beast's meat and see if it is really like what the rumors say. Just thinking about it made him already drooling, he is now more determined to kill this beast fast before it starts to adapt to his fighting style.

He used [Blink] and appeared directly in front of the tiger, with a swing of his sword he aimed it on its neck. Since it was still dizzy because of the impact from the tree and because Nick moves so fast and did not make any noise, the tiger didn't notice the incoming blade.

Before it even realizes what was going on, its head was already flying on air as it spins while spurting blood like a fountain. Nick hurriedly moved away to avoid getting soaked from blood, even though he had a lot of clothes inside his [Space Storage].

"It was not that hard as I expected it would be." Nick thought to himself.

He then waved his hand and the tiger's corpse disappeared as it was not safely stored in his [Space Storage]. Nick was very happy with this skill of his which was very convenient, just like what had Mira said, it was very easy for him to carry a lot of things everywhere he goes.

"I should leave here. The battle from earlier must have attracted a lot of attention." With that, he quickly runs away from this location and continued to move towards the inner region of the forest.

Although the battle between him and the Violet Tiger was only short, it had still attracted a lot of beast's attention. Especially the magic fluctuations in the air which will cause any sensitive beast to sense it.

Nick's training was just beginning and he knows that he will encounter something much stronger than what he had encountered today. All he hopes is that he can survive and become stronger so that he will be able to return fast and unite with Mira and the others.