Meanwhile

Arthur crouched silently inside a dense canopy, his body cloaked by Chi Concealment.

A beast which looked like a bull, but its body was covered in red fur. Flames curled around its horns, and the horns themselves looked like they were superheated metals. Blood dripped from its muzzle as it tore into the carcass of a four-legged beast, bones snapping like twigs under its jaws.

Arthur didn’t need to use ‘Analyse’ to know the strength of the monster. It was an S-rank monster and nearly equaled him in strength.

Arthur was using Chi Concealment, otherwise the monster would have already attacked him. Even though he was not adept enough to wholly remove his presence, he was able to appear harmless in the eyes of the monsters of this forest.

The bull snorted, its fiery eyes sweeping the forest, but it returned to its meal, ignoring him.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. His muscles coiled, as Chi flooded every fiber of his being, as he reinforced his body. Then…

Whoosh!

He launched himself from the canopy like an arrow fired from a bow. 

The monster immediately detected him and opened his mouth to attack, but it was too late as Arthur had already neared it.

His fist glowed faintly, reinforced with dense Chi, and he drove it straight into the monster’s skull.

BOOOOM!

The impact shook the ground. The bull was hurled backward, tearing through trees before skidding to a halt several dozen meters away. The earth beneath them erupted, leaving behind a crater ten meters wide where Arthur had struck.

Arthur landed smoothly. He frowned, flexing his hand. “…That’s it?”

The trees surrounding the crater were all destroyed but the trees some distance away were mostly unscathed with only their barks and some branches broken. The ground was cracked, but nowhere near the devastation his punches usually were capable of.

He felt the ground, trees and everything in this realm are much stronger than outside. ‘So even the land here is tougher,’ Arthur realized grimly. The Ancient Realm itself was forged to withstand monsters of this caliber.

Across the clearing, the bull staggered to its feet, its eyes burned with fury as it stomped one of its front legs. Steam blasted from its nostrils, scorching hot enough to wither the leaves around it. The flames on its horns flared brighter, heatwaves distorting the air.

Arthur cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders as he muttered, “…Let’s go.”

The bull pawed the ground, lowering its head. With a furious bellow, it charged towards Arthur.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he lowered his stance to stop the attack.

The bull’s charge landed with a thunderous crash.

BOOOOOOM!

Shockwaves exploded outward, ripping through the clearing. Trees were uprooted, dirt erupted skyward, and the ground caved into a vast crater. For a moment, the entire forest seemed to shake from the impact.

As the dust settled, Arthur came into view. He stood with both hands locked tightly around the monster’s blazing horns. Steam rose from where the superheated metal like horns touched his palms, yet his skin was unmarred, only faint trails of smoke curled from his fingers.

His boots dragged trenches into the earth as the force of the bull pushed him back, leaving deep grooves in the soil, due to the momentum of the attack. Finally, after being shoved a few dozen meters, Arthur planted his foot hard enough to crack the ground beneath.

“Not bad,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

With a grunt, he twisted his body, and with raw strength, he flipped the colossal beast onto its back.

THUD!

The bull’s body slammed into the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and shattered stone. Before it could recover, Arthur’s boot connected with its side in a brutal kick.

THWAK! 

BOOM!

The monster was thrown away, its massive form tumbling across the clearing before it dug its hooves into the ground and pushed itself upright. Its bellow shook the trees, a sound of pure rage.

Then, it opened its maw. Heat streamed as fire gathered in the depths of its throat, swirling into a concentrated ball of destructive mana.

Arthur lowered his arms slightly, while narrowing his eyes, and let it gather mana and waited for its attack. “…Alright. Show me what you’ve got.”

The bull roared, releasing its breath attack in a beam of searing fire like a laser.

FWOOSH!

The torrent shot forward like a blazing lance, scorching everything in its path. Arthur crossed his arms over his chest and braced himself.

The beam slammed into him.

BOOOOOM!

The impact drove him back, his feet grinding against the ground as fire wrapped around his body. His skin blistered at first, the acrid scent of burning flesh rising from his arms. He hissed through his teeth but held firm.

‘Come on…’

The flesh knit itself back together even as it burned. His adaptability kicked in, his cells evolving, and adjusting to the attack slowly. And within moments, the wound sealed back. The fire that had once scorched his skin now merely licked against him harmlessly, failing to cause any further damage to him.

Arthur raised his head, smirking through the torrent of flames. “Is that it?”

The beam sputtered out, the bull panting heavily, as steam was rising from its body.

Arthur dropped his arms. His skin was flawless again, as he covered Chi around his body. He let out a slow breath, the corner of his lips tugging upward.

WHOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, Arthur shot forward, his body wrapped in Chi, he even used Lightning Manipulation to cover his arms and legs with flickering lightning. He closed the distance between them like lightning, his fist driving into the bull’s jaw.

CRACK!

The beast’s head snapped to the side, its body lifted off its hooves as it was sent skidding sideways.

But Arthur wasn’t finished. He pivoted, appearing above the monster before it could recover, and brought his heel crashing down onto its back.

THOOM!

The impact cratered the ground beneath, the bull bellowed in pain as the earth split open.

It retaliated instantly, twisting its horns upward to pierce him with them. Arthur twisted his body in midair, barely evading the flaming arcs of its horns. The heat singed his clothes, but he came down cleanly, driving his knee into the monster’s shoulder.

The beast staggered, the lightning in Arthur’s attacks preventing it from properly defending itself, still it swung its massive head like a battering ram. Arthur met it head-on, catching one horn with both hands. Flames scorched the air between them as they locked in a contest of raw strength.

“Come on, then!” Arthur growled, veins bulging along his arms.

The bull’s hooves dug into the earth, but slowly, inexorably, Arthur forced its head downward. With a roar of effort, he wrenched the beast sideways, smashing its head into the ground.

The monster tried to rise again, but Arthur didn’t give it the chance. He conjured a Chi blade, it was sharp enough to cut through the defence that the monster could conjure up, and slashed it across its side.

Blood and flames sprayed as the beast howled in pain and rage.

Arthur pressed forward, chaining attacks, punches, kicks, and slashes that blurred together. Each strike reverberated through the air, each impact louder than before.

The bull monster stumbled back while appearing all battered, its once-fiery horns now dimming weakly. It glared at him with hatred, as it breathed heavily, flames sputtering from its nostrils.

Arthur exhaled, rolling his shoulders. A grin tugged at his lips, and excitement gleaming in his eyes.

“…Now that was a good warm-up.”

The bull roared one final time, stomping the ground hard enough to crack it open as it prepared to unleash another desperate charge.

Arthur lowered his stance, “Let’s finish this.”

The clearing trembled as monster and man clashed once more.

The clash shook the clearing once again, but from that moment onward the battle became brutally one-sided.

Arthur had fully locked onto the bull’s movements, its strength no longer allowing it to properly defend itself. Every attack it made was met with a devastating counter. Every swing of its horns ended with Arthur slamming it into the dirt.

The monster roared again and again, but its fury meant nothing against the onslaught of attack.

Arthur ducked under its horn, his Chi-infused fist smashing into its ribs.

CRACK!

He flipped over its back, driving his lightning-wrapped heel down on its spine.

THOOM!

The bull collapsed to its knees, but Arthur didn’t stop his attacks. He appeared at its flank, driving his blade of condensed Chi across its throat in a clean arc.

The creature let out one last, strangled bellow before its massive body collapsed with a ground-shaking thud.

Arthur exhaled, wiping the monster’s blood and his sweat from his brow as the corpse began to dissolve into motes of pale light. In its place, a single large core was left behind, it was fiery red in color and was glowing faintly.

Arthur crouched and picked it up, feeling the heat radiate off it. There was a huge amount of energy inside the core, enough to run a large sized city for years. He twirled it once in his hand, then tucked it into his dimensional storage.

“…That was a nice haul,” he muttered, rolling his shoulders. “But if S-rank monsters are roaming around this casually… then the Ancient Realm really is a different kind of beast.”

With that, he turned and left the battlefield, his boots crunching over the charred earth.

…

Two hours passed.

Arthur moved deeper into the endless forest, leaving behind the shattered areas where he had fought dozens of monsters. His Map was dotted with fading markers where he had slain beasts and claimed their cores. By now, he had collected several, each one containing potent energy within his storage.

A few moments later he appeared before ruins of what once might have been a grand temple. Its stone pillars leaned precariously, covered in moss and vines. The walls were cracked, half-collapsed, but the aura that seeped from it was undeniable, an ominous, heavy presence was emanating from the temple.

Arthur frowned. “…What is a temple doing here?.”

He tried opening his map, but nothing unusual showed up. It was just a blank terrain, as if the temple wasn’t there at all, his frown deepened.

“… That’s never a good sign.”

He stepped inside cautiously. Immediately, that prickling sensation along his spine increased. He felt he was being watched.

Arthur’s gaze flicked around the ruined hall. Shadows clung to the cracks, and faint dust motes drifted in the stale air. Yet there were no monsters, or any life force that registered on his senses.

Still, his instinct screamed at him that something was wrong with this place.

“…There’s no living being here,” he muttered under his breath, his Chi flowing to his hands.

He even tried to pretend that he knew someone was hiding and called them out, but there was no reply, the temple remained absolutely silent.

Grinding his teeth, Arthur pressed deeper as curiosity got the better of him, his footsteps echoing softly against the broken stone tiles. He passed through a crumbling archway into what seemed like the heart of the ruin.

***

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