Chapter 17

Leon started to wonder if he was still sleeping when he saw those monsters, but those thoughts disappeared from his head when he saw those creatures' red eyes, their sharp fangs, and fins. Adding to that, Leon saw the corpses of the fish behind those three visitors.

"Ah… They are their evolved forms…"

Leon slowly started to walk backward, those creatures lost the chance to catch him by surprise, but they still looked ready to fight and look for the main culprit of the death of those fish.

While those creatures were waiting for something, like a divine revelation from the heavens telling them that Leon was the culprit, he decided to move. He dashed, grabbed his wood spear, and prepared himself to fight. He had yet to learn how to swing that weapon properly, but he had no other option but to learn while fighting. Leon didn't want to run and show his back to those creatures.

At the same moment, Leon grabbed the spear. One of the two-legged fish opened its mouth and shot a water ball as fast as an arrow. Leon managed to react in time and block the projectile, but he felt his arms aching after the impact. If that hit him directly…

"Oh, shit… why now? I barely have decent weapons or magic powerful enough to fight. Damn it!"

There was no meaning in getting mad, he didn't expect that, but the corpses lured those creatures to this place. Oblivious to Leon's concerns, another fish jumped and prepared to impale him with its trident. Leon started to sweat cold. Contrary to his piece of trash weapon, that trident looked terrific. It looked like it had been made by a blacksmith that has magical skills, and the things even emanated a blue glow.

It was no time to admire the enemy's weapon, so Leon transfused his mana using his legs and created a small earth sphere. That thing looked far more powerful than the fish, but he could kill it in a single strike. He just had to destroy its brains through its mouth. However, Leon stopped. He couldn't use his skill like that. He could use it only once, and there were two other monsters. To make matters worse, Leon noticed another monster preparing to spit a water ball.

"Give me a break!"

Leon prepared his spear to block the water ball and made his earth sphere hit the face of the second monster. He held back, so only a part of his mana had been used. Despite that, his attack stopped the monster's charge and made the creature fall near him, dizzy. Leon blocked the water ball, once again, he endured the pain, but he felt shivers when he heard the sound of his spear cracking.

"No way…"

It wouldn't last long, so Leon had to act fast. Without a hint of hesitation, he pierced the head of the fallen monster with his spear, killing it. After that, he combined Strong Arms and Throw to attack another monster who jumped to attack him. His attack barely caused damage since the tip of the spear didn't hit anything, but it gave Leon enough time to pick the trident of the dead monster.

With the trident in his right hand and controlling the earth sphere with his left, Leon faced the monsters. The difficulty level decreased a bit, but he still was in a race against time. Soon his mana would dissipate, and he would lose control over the earth sphere. Despite being fish monsters, the creatures flinched when they saw Leon controlling a small sphere of earth, it was small, but it was enough to stop their change. They were smart, Leon couldn't underestimate them, but they couldn't underestimate Leon either. The two creatures looked at each and nodded; one second later, they opened their mouths.

"Ah, come on!"

Leon charged forward because he didn't want to make their work any easier. He threw the trident with all his might toward the first monster and ran toward the second while using his left arm to protect his face. Half a second later, Leon got hit and felt his left arm snapping like twigs.

"Ugh!"

For some reason, he only got hit once. When he lowered his broken arm, he saw that the trident had hit the interior of the monster's mouth. The creature didn't die, but it was bleeding and in pain. Before he could lose the chance, Leon made the earth sphere hit the face of the monster that attacked him. Once again, he held back; he didn't want to collapse due to mana exhaustion.

His attack made the monster stagger, and Leon attacked it with a drop-kick. The creature fell, and Leon fell over it. He got lucky because that sealed the creature's movement and even gave him the chance to steal its weapon. He did it and tried to hold the trident with both hands, but he lost control over his left arm. So, he only attacked using his right. Again and again, he attacked. Little by little, the trident pierced the creature's flesh. Blood fell over him and near him like rain, but he didn't stop, not even when the creature stopped moving. He only stopped when his stamina ended, and he fell exhausted. He got lucky once again because his throw killed the second monster…

Even after he recovered his stamina, Leon was breathing with difficulty. Covered in blood, he looked like a maniac. He only returned to his usual self when the pain in his left arm began to bother him.

Leon trembled; he had just killed three intelligent creatures. He had just survived a battle to the death with them… they were monsters, but their blood was also red. Their blood was warm… Leon killed the monsters from a similar species the previous days like it was nothing. He only thought of them as food… but now, he became aware of the fact that they were in the same position. They both were at the lowest part of the new food chain.