Boss-rank!

<Welcome back, host!>

Good, his partner was still active.

"Trader, what happened?" Jem directly asked.

<Many things happened, but for now, look in front of you!>

"!?"

Before Jem Hansen could realize what happened, standing in front of him was a towering creature that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.

He was looking at it with both surprised and confused expressions.

It had a round body, and black furs were all over; he deliberately peeked at the creature's face, but he could not see it as there was only a shade of black on it. There was only darkness covering its face.

He could not tell what kind of expression the creature was making, but he had a bad feeling about it. He could not help but be intimidated by the pressure it was exuding. As though it was crushing him.

What kind of monster is this? Jem thought but he had no time to get his answer as the creature standing a few steps away from him already flung its massive furry arm at him.

Jem felt a chill running down his spine as he watched the incoming attack. His body moved by reflexes to avoid it. Also, he instinctively used his fortification ability on his chest, to where he thought the attack would hit him.

A bone-chilling sensation creeped out on Jem as he watched in slow-mo the sharp-looking jet black claws pass a few centimeters away from his chest.

Luckily, he was able to step back and avoided the attack.

But,

Wha—!? A surprised utterance came out from Jem Hansen's mouth.

Although he succeeded in evading it, suddenly, he found his body hurling away.

Whoosh!

Thud!

"Damn it! Ugh!"

It happened so fast that he failed to notice what happened in a split second. Jem vomited a mouthful of blood when his body slammed on the ground. It would be less painful if it happened in the bushes. Unfortunately, he found himself crashing on an empty field.

Jem groaned as he tried to pull his body. 'H-how did it happen?' He asked in mind while clutching his chest. He was sure he evaded that attack.

It seemed an invisible force hit him. But he had no time to be in a daze. The ground was trembling. When he looked in the enemy's direction, he saw the enemy stomping its feet in fury.

He felt all the hairs on his body stood upright as he was watching it.

The stomping only happened in a brief moment, but Jem was startled by it. This monster was on another level! He could feel it. He could feel the intense aura from it.

The monster unhurriedly picked something on the ground. Jem was staring at it in full alert. The monster lifted it. That something in the monster's hands… It looks familiar to him. Wait, it seemed like a baby version of the monster. Could it be its offspring? He asked in mind. But, it seemed to be dead. He wondered what happened to it.

A second later, Jem shook the thought out of his head when he noticed the baby suddenly twitched.

It's alive!

But it seemed so weak.

"Eh?!" Along with the exclamation point was a question mark. He had no memory of what happened a while ago. So he had no idea why the beast shot an angry look at him. Its eyes shone in yellow.

It could only mean one thing.

At this very moment, Jem knew his life was in great danger.

This enemy. It wasn't like the other beast he encountered.

Even his body shuddered on its own. As though it reacted from the intense aura that the monster in front of him was exuding.

Even if he used his intimidation ability, he speculated that it would not be enough to intimidate this beast.

<Be careful, host. This one is a lot stronger. It's a Boss-rank beast.>

To prove his thought, he heard the Trader's warning.

"B-Boss-rank? What kind of rank is that?!"

It was the first time that he heard of such a rank.