The Hunter and the Prey

'Dragon Descent!'

Bang! Crash!

Rio leaped into the air and turned into a twenty-one-foot long and twenty-eight-foot wide purple-scaled dragon and crushed into the land.

"Damn it! Kill him, quick!"

"A d-dragon! A real dragon! Help!"

Rio did land near the examinees but he purposely avoided landing at them. If he did, his killing rate will increase and he will have a hard time eliminating a participant if his number is nearly at max.

With the use of fear, he shoos the participants away and made a platform for his performance. "Fragile creatures, fear me!"

'Burnout!' 'Flame Breath!'

"F-Fire! Run!"

"This is madness! Ah! A real dragon!"

Cries of terror rung all over the forest as soon as Rio unleashed some of his skills. Activating Burnout made his massive body release a flame that could melt the ground. The examinee was scared and tried to run as fast as possible.

Rio looked in front of him and noticed that are still ten to fifteen participants running in the direction of his Flame Breath. His mouth is wide open as a massive ball of flame shot out of his mouth.

Swoosh! Bang! Boom!

The ball of flame traveled for thirteen meters till it hit an examinee. The examinee doesn't even have the chance to scream as the ball of flame turned him to ashes then explodes.

The other five examinees who are within the range of explosion turned into dust as well.

'Swoosh!'

Rio twisted his massive body then hit a tree with his tail. Only then he realized that the katana on his hands were gone and become a part of his tail. The tail whip cut the large tree and throw the examinees into commotion. "You can go to hell! Hold fast, charge! Blah!"

'Courage!' 'Decisive Strike!' 'Burning Agony!'

"Don't make me laugh! You giant lizard! Eat my hand!" A burly man who has a large left hand charged and slammed his fist to Rio's side. But before he could reach Rio, he was already toasted partly by the Burnout.

"Aw shit! Arg! Blurgh!" The man from the Leftty race shouted then run as fast as he can. As soon as the Burnout expired three balls of flames appeared around Rio. He was hit by one of those large balls of flames as it rotates around Rio's body.

The other look at Leftty guy spat a few mouthfuls of blood before trying to escape to the city with all his might.

Rio's huge body twisted and look in the direction of the Leftty guy. "Hey, I remember you, Brax! Sorry, but you can't run away from a fight!"

Rio reactivated the skill Decisive Strike as he struck Brax with his tails. Brax was hit on his abdomen and was thrown into a large tree. The tree is too though. His body did manage to put a scratch on it but his blood painted the trunk of the tree.

"The night is long! Let's have fun!" Rio opened his mouth the shouted to cast fear on the examinees.

At least a large percentage run away in fear while the rest stayed. Not because they do not fear Rio, but because they can't move.

"P-Please! Don't kill us! We're so sorry!"

"M-M-Mama! I-I-I don't wanna die!"

"Shit! I can't move my legs... I shouldn't have listened to them, honey..."

Rio used his tale to cut down dozens of trees before he forcefully turned back to his human form. He managed to remain to his dragon much longer than he expected. He also doesn't have to worry about the health being consumed by Burning Agony since his health recovery is faster than being consumed.

Rebecca and Bluch who was watching from far felt a cold sweat dripping from their chicks. They only knew he was strong, but they never thought that Rio is capable of murdering someone.

"Move your asses," Rio said then began running in the direction of their respawn area then he activated Storm Dash.

Matt Volk and Olive did the same thing and followed behind Rio. They did not wait for their passengers to get ready and bolted out on their own.

Rio and his group run like there is no tomorrow. They are getting farther and farther from the city and nearer to the place they fought the Black Maned Wolf.

Rio did not bother hunting class five beast since his reason is to avoid being cornered by the other groups from the four cities.

As they get near their destination, the sign of battle caused by the small skirmish of the Black Maned Wolf pack and the Redrayot army is becoming more and more visible. The smell of rotten bodies of the Redrayot was getting stinkier as well.

It's not shocking to Rio that the fight this far since he took a look at the map shown by his second vision trinket. He saw for a few minutes how the pack played the fight as they lure some high-ranking member of the army then chip its strength bit by bit.

After a few seconds, Rio saw something hundreds of meters away from them so he decided to slow down a bit by deactivating the Storm Dash. He noticed that the person is from the Feathered Giant race as they got closer to him.

After reaching the hundred-meter mark, Rio finally saw a green mark representing the person. He nodded silently to tell his companions that there is no need to be wary.

"Stop! This is a high danger zone!" The feathered giant shouted when they are only a few meters away from his location.

The feathered giant is at least five meters tall, larger than those who reside in the city. He also had an Owl's head making Rio curious if he could also twist his head 180°.

"We know that mister. We have business here." Rio said with respect.

"A nest of this world's dominator has been found near here. We can't clear it until the test is done so please step back if you still want your head intact." The Owl-headed giant said then eyed Rio.

Rio, in response, took out his spears made out of Redrayot's fangs and said. "We have business with those things. Let us in already. We found the nest first, the materials are ours, not yours."

The Owl-headed giant went silent as he processed what Rio is trying to say. The giant shook its head then replied with a serious tone. "Sigh! Fine! If you insist then go. We have no responsibility if one of you died in the process."

The Owl-headed giant closed its eyes and remained silent as if he wanted to say that he saw nothing passing through. However, before Rio and his companions made a step, the giant opened its eyes and released a menacing killing intent.

Rio's eyes twitched as he noticed that something is different but he could not tell what. He just eyed the Owl-headed giant and wait for his next move.

"You're quite a dissent one compared to those who joined this past few decades." The giant said coldly then slowly open its eyes. "However, you are also the bloodiest of them despite the fact that we are still in the early stages of the test. Let me give you a piece of advice. The Origin Universe is a far dangerous and trickier place than this simple test. Showing off your strength will just attract unwanted attention. With this universe background, offending someone will just lead to your death."

Rio calmly listened to the words the giants spoke only for him to speak something useless. "Isn't that common knowledge? And here I thought you'll speak some word of wisdom."

The giant knitted his brows then look at Rio weirdly. "You... Are you perhaps an heir of some hidden expert?"

"Why'd you asked?" Rio asked back.

"I mean, how could you withstand such killing intent. Look at your companions." The giant said, making Rio turn his head look at his companions.

"What?" Rio muttered a word as he saw Rebecca, Bluch, and even the wolves looking at the ground. "Killing intent, so that's why the look on your eyes reminds me of how grandpa stared at me back then..."

"Hmm. Indeed, this must be common knowledge for someone like you who was raised by a hidden expert." The giant said as he lifted his killing intent, freeing the suppression on Rio's companions. "But reminding you common knowledge is not that bad. I mean, you might forget common knowledge because of your emotion... Just go."

Rio felt the awkwardness behind the words of the giant and can't help but sigh. "Thanks then."

The feathered giant felt his face burning as he let Rio and his companions pass through him. He was a member of the protection squad of the One World who protects the examinees and controls the population of some beasts.

'He's somehow a promising fellow. Perhaps he could seduce old man Flute to become his servant. I'll better watch him just in case. Not every day you will such a person.' The giant thought and called hundreds of Nightmare Owls to follow Rio from afar.

Rio noticed that there are hundreds of eyes watching him and look at the map. There, he saw countless Nightmare Owls being marked as green or friendly individuals. 'He sure is an awkward person. Saying that he doesn't have responsibilities but still watched us like this.'

Rio sped up by using Storm Dash to reach and reached the place where he left his second vision trinket. Like what he saw from the vision the ward is providing, the ground is covered with a hardened slimy substance from the corpse of the Redrayots.

Rio held his Diamante Katana then cut the ground. Surprisingly, some of the hardened substances turned into light and got absorbed by the sword.

[Absorbed Class 1 Beast Corpse: 100/100]

[Do you want to upgrade your weapon? Y/N]

Rio clicked no even though he could already upgrade his weapon from +4 to +5. He doesn't know how will it affect the upgrading will bring if just upgrade his weapon without completing the killing requirements.

He just felt that something bad will happened and doesn't have any proof to justify his feelings.

"Senior sister, your turn," Rio said without looking back.

"Ha? Me? Okay." Rebecca nervously said. She hopped from the back of Olive then smashed his Diamante Crossbow +4 and Diamante Quiver on the ground as it absorbed the hardened substance.

A larger part of the substance that covered the ground got absorbed by her equipment, but there are still too many of them left.

Rebecca flinched then look at Rio with a smile. The crossbow and quiver on her hand glowed for a while before revealing some changes in its color.

The weapon they were granted is made of the hardest metal on Earth. Since the colorless diamond is the hardest, it became the main material of the weapon they got.

The Diamante Crossbow ad Diamante Quiver on Rebecca's hands turned grey and the glow within them diminished.

"I know less when it comes to diamonds. But is there perhaps a harder material than a white diamond?" Rio muttered then approached Rebecca and extended his hand to ask for a bolt to inspect.

"What are you talking about? Black diamonds are the hardest, not the white ones. No, not harder, they are tougher than most diamonds." Rebecca said then handed a bolt to Rio.

"Black diamonds? Never heard of them." Rio shrugged then checked the bolt. The sharpness of the bolt seems harder the last time he checked it. "Ah! Bluch took out equipment and do the same thing as we did."

Rebecca took the bolt back from Rio then started speaking. "I too, know nothing about diamonds. But I heard that diamonds can't be used to create a sword. That's why when I received the weapon for the first time, I believe that it is not made of a diamond but only made of a material that has the same hardness as a diamond. Anyway, why is your katana did not changed?"

"Nothing, I just want to complete the killing task before upgrading mine so I rejected the thought," Rio said then watch as the cooking set of Bluch turned grey.

"Let's take a rest first!" Rio said then climbed the tallest tree in his sight. He climbed up to the middle part then started cutting them with his Diamante Katana +4.

Although their body was strengthened after the burden from Earth was lifted, they are still unawakened being that needed a proper rest. They sleep inside the room Rio created then let Olive and Matt Volk stand as a guard.

"Good night then," Rio said then closed his eyes tightly. The next moment he lifted his head, the sun is already up. He rested quite well, much better than when he rested inside the Inn.