Chapter 8: Massive Improvements!

"Seems I've fully healed, and it only took around two and a half days for me to fully heal from several life-threatening wounds; I don't know how many times I'm going to say it, but this body is simply spectacular." Stated Diddy with a small smile while stretching.

'Not to mention, I'm much stronger than before I fought that lion; I feel like I'd be able to defeat that lion without too much difficulty now.' Thought Diddy with a feral smirk as he flexed his powerful muscles.

Although I felt much stronger than previously, I couldn't precisely tell how much stronger I'd actually gotten, so with that thought, I approached the massive boulder in the distance, yet I didn't intend to use its weight to determine my strength as ever since I've started relentlessly hunting powerful beasts, It has become nearly obsolete; its weight hardly affecting me now.

'Even though it has lost its use for weight training, it is still a massive boulder comprised of stone; destroying it won't be easy.' Thought Diddy with a feral smile that was present on his serious expression.

Standing opposite the boulder that was at least three times my height, I lowered my knees slightly and got into a horse stance, preparing to punch the boulder into smithereens; yet before I did, I suddenly leaped high into the air with all of my might, causing me to soar tens of feet above the trees and allowing me to view most of the forest.

'Never realized how big the forest is; there is even a large part of the Inner-area I haven't explored yet.' Thought Diddy while observing the forest.

Once I arrived at the peak, gravity began to take hold of me; shifting my focus back to the massive boulder below, I closed my hand into a fist and flexed all of the muscles in my right arm to increase its hardness and power. As I grew closer to the massive boulder, I could feel my heart beating excitedly at the prospect of destroying such a giant boulder in one attack.

When I was merely a few inches from touching it, gathering all the strength I could into my right arm, I released the most powerful attack to date, and out of instinct, I yelled the name of the attack as if doing so would increase its power.

"HYPER FIST!" Exclaimed Diddy loudly just as his fist connected with the boulder.

The instant my fist hit the boulder, I could feel how my hand easily dug into it, causing various cracks to encompass the boulder; as the power of my punch traveled throughout the entire boulder, once it finally managed to disperse into the sand below, it caused the ground to tremble in response.

Once everything calmed down, I frowned as I retracted my fist and jumped off the boulder while looking at it nearly perfectly intact, curious how it could still be standing after receiving my attack. Raising my hand, I tapped on the boulder a few times, yet just as I did, the builder suddenly collapsed into numerous tinny pieces, nearly enveloping me in its rubble.

Looking at the large pile of rubble just before my feet, I couldn't help but laugh out loud; it was such a fantastic feeling to know that all the hard work you've done for the past several weeks actually meant something. If I had attempted to destroy this boulder a few months ago, I know for a fact I wouldn't have been able to do it in one attack, yet in merely a few months, I've grown so much stronger than I ever have when I was a human.

"Still, this isn't enough; I want more, no, I need more!" Declared Diddy with a deranged smile while looking at his clenched fist.

Looking up in front of me, I laughed once more as I approached the forest, looking to hunt another worthy opponent; however, unlike before, this time, my laughter brought about my desire to cause chaos.

'Who'll be my next victim?' Thought Diddy with a feral smile while his deadly sharp nails reflected the sun's light before vanishing as he entered the forest.

___

___

Deep in the forest was a small clearing filled with stumps of broken trees and various small craters while numerous mangled corpses littered the area; the scene looked like a war had just occurred.

If you were to follow the path of destruction, which was riddled throughout the forest, you'd eventually come to the sight of a young mink sitting atop several corpses sporting a bland expression while surrounded by six vicious beasts; yet, unlike the perfectly healthy boy, every single beast still alive was covered in wounds.

___

___

Eyeing all the so-called strongest beasts of their respective species, I released a frustrated sigh and feasted upon the raw leg of an animal I had killed.

"I'm bored." Remarked Diddy blandly while glancing at each injured beast.

"Haa, since I started this, I might as well end it. Tch, what a disappointment; I did expect more, though I suppose fighting you all wasn't a complete waste; seeing you all fight, I've gained some inspiration into developing an ultimate technique." Added Diddy with a frown while shaking his head as he took one last bite from the leg before throwing it away.

When I stood up, the beasts below me all took a step back in fright, and while it was a lovely sight, I wasn't really in the mood to appreciate the fear they held for me. Bending my leg, I instantly kicked the pile of corpses numerous times, propelling myself with immense speed to the point where the beasts didn't even notice I had moved until I had already arrived beside them.

The first one to notice me was the massive grayish-silver gorilla the size of an elephant, which made sense as It was the closest to me; when it turned around, the gorilla bared his fangs and roared at me as he released a punch with his fist that was probably half the size of my body.

Just when the first was about to collide with my body, I quickly flexed my muscles to be as hard as possible, prompting them to gain the same hardness as steel; a technique I had grasped over the years after having battled against numerous tank-sized bears, though I call it-

'Harden!' Thought Diddy, his muscles momentarily acquiring the same hardness of steel, causing the gorilla to roar in pain from the collision.

"Heh, won't be able to stab people's bodies anymore with those broken fingers, will you?" Remarked Diddy as he eyed the gorilla's mangled fingers.

With a vicious smirk, I kicked the ground several times instantly and appeared directly in front of the gorilla with my outstretched finger, my nail just centimeters away from the beast's skull.

"Here's my revenge for being stabbed all those times by you fucking apes. Pierce!" Stated Diddy with a feral smile as he swiftly penetrated his finger deep into the gorilla's skull, killing him in one swift motion.

Seeing his corpse fall to the ground, I smirked as I eyed the snake, wolf, moose, bear, and lizard; they were the only remaining beasts alive, though they won't be for long. As I looked at them, I saw they all glanced at each other before rushing toward me in sync, causing me to smile. I suddenly closed my fist and punched the bluish-white wolf in the face, which had just appeared before me after using the same technique I had used earlier.

Similar to the bear, after fighting an uncountable number of wolves, I managed to grasp the technique that they use to increase their speed massively, and the same goes with the apes, as they are practically able to turn their fingers into bullets, although in reality, a bullet would probably be weaker than their fingers; however, it's the concept that matters.

As I punched the wolf, I felt its jaw crush underneath from the force of my attack before it crashed into several trees in the distance. Yet, I couldn't follow up, as I had to dodge two incredibly sharp slices of wind that the lizard had launched at me with its powerful legs.

(Note: The lizard I'm specifically talking about is the kind that runs on water.)

With a grunt of annoyance, I responded by doing the same techniques and launched two slices of sharp wind blades toward the lizard, which would've killed him if the bear didn't take the attack instead, although even with that hardening technique, the bear still sustained damage.

"Tch, what was the point of that? All you're doing is prolonging this useless fight." Muttered Diddy as he reached behind him and clutched the neck of a titan boa that tried to attack him.

'No matter how often I do this, it still feels weird to me.' Thought Diddy as he turned his head completely around and eyed the snake.

"I don't even know why you're here; you're the weakest one present." Remarked Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he squeezed the titan boa until its head popped off.

Unlike the five other beats, the snake didn't have any unique technique or ability; all it had was its insane flexibility, something I was pretty jealous of, at least until I managed to become just as flexible as them, though I will say, doing so was very difficult; took me a very long time before I achieved the same level of flexibility as them. Now it may not directly improve your fighting prowess, but it's convenient in combat, especially when you're fighting multiple opponents like I'm doing.

'If it weren't for my flexibility, I'd have differently got injured in the earlier battle; fighting roughly a 100 or so beast at the same time isn't easy, especially if you don't wish to get hit once.' Thought Diddy as he glanced at the incoming moose as it maneuvered through the air by jumping.

Looking at the moose, I jumped into the air, and when I reached my peak, I'd hit the air beneath my foot with immense force, practically giving me a solid platform momentarily as I used it to continue propelling myself through the sky; something I also learned from fighting various moose.

Once I neared the moose, it attempted to charge at me with its massive sharp antlers, and just when it was about to do so, I reached my hands forward and stopped its charge.

"Just as Isaac Newton said, what comes up, must come down!" Stated Diddy with a feral smirk as he kicked off the air while pointing toward the ground, causing the moose to slam into the ground and kick up a dust cloud from the impact.

____

____

Elven Legacy (Chapter 127: Eyvor Arrives & Birger XOXO Sarah) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 9: Jinx!) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 12: Make It Double!) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]