CH 25: Outmatched

Two weeks later…

I was down in a cave system after fighting with a giant mole colony that gave a tone of XP.

[Congratulations, master! You leveled up!]

…

Name: Kaiser Raijin

Level: 35

XP: 25,278,908 / 100,000,000

Skill Points: 35

Status:

Health: 100%

Stamina: 79%

Mana: 81%

{Skill Trees}

…

"Now I can finally finish them. Go ahead and unlock the last two."

[Commencing unlock of -Quake Pulse- at the cost of 15 skill points.]

After learning the spell, I started the next one.

[Commencing unlock of -Castle Walls- at the cost of 15 skill points.]

-Quake Pulse- was a skill that could cause short-range earthquakes and -Castle Walls- could conjure a thick ground wall that was very hard to penetrate.

"Great," I said as I turned to exit the cave system. Thousands of mole beasts were scattered everywhere with different injuries. Some were incinerated, some had holes through them from wind attacks, some were soaked with water, and some had the cave collapse on top of them. "Let's see what the A-rank mana beasts have in store for us."

I exited the cave and walked through the dense forest. It was still relatively early in the day. Since finding colonies around my area was getting more challenging, I traveled around to different regions and hunted there. This left me quite a ways from where I was supposed to meet Grandmother tomorrow, but I knew I could fly over there quickly with -Rocket-.

The further I traveled into the Zone, the more anxious I got. The disparity in power between a high-tier C-rank mana beast and a low-tier B-rank mana beast was incredible. I had a bad feeling a low-tier A-rank beast wouldn't be as easy as before.

My feelings were confirmed when I suddenly felt a dramatic increase in the deadly aura in the forest. The hair rose on my skin but I pushed forward, resisting the urge to leave. So far, I hadn't encountered anything challenging and was itching for a good fight.

Shadows through the forest cast by the sun began to become longer. The normal chirping of birds had disappeared, leaving only silence. The only sounds were my breathing and footsteps.

'This is probably the territory of an A-rank.'

As if on cue, a tremor shook the ground, causing the trees to shake.

Soon, another one shook the area, closer to me.

'Looks like it's also wanting a fight.'

I turned on my mana vision and peered ahead of me. An insane source of green and blue mana was directly in front of me. I jumped on a tree and stretched my vision as far as I could.

Through the dense foliage, a very large green wyvern was slowly weaving through the trees.

*GURAK*

The beast's low call spread through the forest. As I observed it, its deep blue eyes swept through the forest and landed directly on me.

We both stood still, observing each other. My breath stopped and my heart pounded in my chest. When I was about to move, the wyvern took off toward me at an insane pace. It weaved through the trees with unprecedented nimbleness.

I conjured fire armor around my body and hopped from tree to tree to get closer to the beast. As I got within 50 meters, I noticed a large amount of light green mana converging at the wyvern's mouth.

*FWOOSH*

A thick blast of wind leveled the area as it barreled in my direction. Using -Rocket-, I jumped over it and fell to the ground. But before I hit the ground, I cast -Trampoline Park- from Ground Mana Arts and bounced on the surface to propel me forward. Another barrage of wind blasts tore through the air as I continued to use explosions and the elastic ground to dodge.

Once I reached the giant beast, mana swelled in my feet and propelled me upwards and above the creature's head. 5 rings of water with serrated edges formed around me as I cast -Razor Wheel- from Water Mana Arts.

'Let's see how you like this.'

The wheels shot toward the wyvern, heading for its neck and chest. But the creature was ready. A large barrier of water sprouted out from its maw and completely absorbed the attacks.

As the beast's view was obstructed, I landed on the ground and cast -Eagle's Talons-. 10 large birds made out of wind flew out from my body and into the air. They circled around the wyvern and when its shield went down, they dived at it to attack.

*ROAR*

The eagle's talons scraped at the beast's scales, leaving minor wounds. But I wasn't done yet. The ground shook with a large tremor as a giant hand of rock emerged from the ground. I cast -Stone Golems-, but instead of multiple creatures of rock, I created one that was larger. After the hand had emerged and landed on the ground, the golem pulled the rest of his body out of the ground and in front of me to face the beast.

The Wyvern was busy swapping at the eagles but noticed the disturbance around it. Quickly, water seeped through the beast's pores and covered its entire body. It used its ability to cover itself in mana armor.

The eagles grew ineffective after the beast used its armor, so I inactivated them and used -Rocket- to get above the creature and the golem. After its previous annoyance had disappeared, the wyvern turned to face a giant rock creature lumbering toward it. The mass of ground mana was a head taller than it but very slow.

The golem swung its giant fist directly at the beast's head.

*SPLASH*

The rock collided with the water armor and caused a massive explosion of water. The Wyvern was able to block the blow, but that was what I was waiting for. When it was off balance, I poured all of my mana into -Quake Pulse- from Ground Mana Arts. Immediately, the landscape began to violently shake back and forth. The Wyvern was off balance already, so it fell over at the sudden tremor.

*RUMBLE*

Cracks began to spread throughout the ground and some parts jutted upwards, and some fell down. My golem was also affected so I dissolved it and flew down to the Wyvern, which was having trouble flipping over to stand up again. The spell didn't do any damage to the creature but that wasn't the purpose of it. I reached the beast and immediately placed my hand on its body, or in this case, its water armor. I cast -Muddy Shoes- and the shaking ground underneath the beast began to liquefy.

The wyvern sank into the muddy ground and was submerged halfway. I called off the spell and the ground began to resolidify, trapping the large green beast in the ground.

*SCREECH*

An ear-piercing scream came out of the Wyvern's maw and echoed throughout the entire forest.

'Uh oh.'

I had seen this before in Dimitri's life. While hunting a lone creature, there was only one reason it would call out like that.

'I need to finish this quickly.'

Massive chains of fire gushed out of my hands and wrapped the beast wherever it wasn't submerged.

*ROAR*

The wyvern cried out in pain as the chains burnt through its armor and continued to its scales. I planted the chains in the ground and continued to tighten them around it. Next, I cast a slow but very deadly attack. 3 small orbs of soft wind formed in my hands and I sent them to the struggling creature stuck in the ground and in chains. The orbs slowly fell to the Wyvern and they touched its armor.

*BOOM*

As soon as they touched it, the orbs rapidly expanded in an explosion of wind scythes.

*ROAR*

The wyvern's armor was easily cut through and the scales that the orbs had touched were ripped apart. It roared out in pain as the blades cut apart its body. Its water armor dissipated after it was broken through. I knew this was my chance. 5 rings of fire expanded around my arms and I lifted them up to deliver the final blow.

But suddenly, a massive amount of mana from behind me began to gather. The wind began to pick up and the sky darkened.

'Shit.'

*FWOOSH*

A giant whirlwind struck me in the air and sent me flying.

*BOOM*

I hit the ground and caused an explosion of rock and debris. The wind attack had dealt most if not all of the damage. I had several lacerations on my armor and my left shoulder was bleeding.

I slowly got up from the crater and when the dust settled around me, I looked to where the attack had come from.

A massive green dragon with bright blue eyes was walking out from the treeline and into the clearing caused by the Wyvern earlier. It was twice the size of the wyvern and had massive wings on its back.

[Master, you need to leave! That's a high-tier A-rank beast!]

"I can't leave without finishing the Wyvern," I said as I limped over to the struggling beast in chains.

[You can always get XP later, master! You are already severely injured from one attack, you need to escape!]

"I was just taken by surprise."

A silvery metal seeped out of my skin and covered my entire body. The metal was solid everywhere except for the joints, which allowed me to move freely without having multiple pieces. The armor was the spell -Knight's Armor- from Ground Mana Arts. It was a tough layer of metal that was incredibly durable.

I reached the Wyvern and cast -Suffocation- from Wind Mana Arts. It was a spell that could keep the target from breathing properly.

The green lizard immediately began to flail around silently as all the air surrounding the beast had been cut off from it. Another massive amount of mana swelled from the right, where the dragon was heading in my direction.

I quickly cast -Castle Walls- and a thick wall of rock shot out from the ground.

*BOOM*

The whirlwind from the dragon was blocked by my wall, but I knew that wasn't the last attack.

*BOOM*

This time, the wall started to crack and break apart from the impact. Before the next attack could break through, I cast -Burning Passion- and felt my mana reserves completely refilled. Fire and wind mana began to build up in my hands as I lifted them to finish off the Wyvern.

I cast -Flamethrower- powered by -Cyclone Net-. A web of wind surrounded the beast and a fountain of flames spread all over its body.

*SCREAM*

The beast let out a guttural scream of pain as the flaming net of wind torched its body and roasted it alive.

*BOOM*

That's when another attack came from the nearing dragon and my wall was broken through. Before the dragon could reach me and the Wyvern, I constricted the chains and net around it as hard as I could. All of its limbs were severed, soon followed by its head, ending its life.

I quickly sent out an explosion of wind mana to kick up a cloud of dust and used -Rocket- and -Flutter Step- from Wind Mana Arts to shoot off to the north.

*ROAR*

The dragon's roar echoed in the distance as I flew through the sky, over the deadly forest of the Zone.