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A Week After

Deep in the forests far from Aemplefort, Another Dark Beast had just fallen to Firestorm adding to my ever-increasing body count.

The Dark Beast was an A-Rank High that was quite close to hitting the border of S-Rank but not quite there.

A shame that it will never get there.

This Dark Beast was the closest I had been to an S-Rank

A week ago I decided to try my luck against an S-Rank Dark Beast but for some reason, they didn't seem to spawn.

Anyway, I cleaned the blood off my blade that had caused the deaths of 3 B-Ranks High, 14 A-Rank Low, 21 A-Rank Mid and 10 A-Rank High within this week.

Bringing my point up to a whopping 909, I'm not sure if there's anyone who has more points but I do heavily doubt it.

There are not a lot of powerhouses participating in this event, which is weird. Maybe they don't just live in the south.

Maybe that's why there's not a lot of powerhouses. After all, a better economy means a better payday for mercenaries.

Anyways, I got my mind off that topic and was ready to go in a little bit deeper to find some S-Rank.

Who would have thought that I wouldn't have to do that,

Why?

Because it was freaking dashing to me.

I rolled to the side, and it went right past me in a close shave then went on to destroy so many trees before it came to a stop.

I was sure about 40 trees were uprooted by this thing, talk about deforestation.

I thought about leaving because I didn't want to deal with something like this if I didn't have to.

But I decided to stay, I wanted an S-Rank and I got one. Time to see where I stand.

The smoke cleared and I could see the Dark Beast clearer now.

It was like a Taurus, Bull cross, something that was on drugs and had ADHD.

On four legs it stood, A huge towering monster easily 2 or maybe 3 times taller than me.

Two horns on its head like a fork, Huge bulking muscles behind its pitch black fur that had patches of dry blood and injuries.

'Wait! Injuries?'

I scanned the Dark Beast further and noticed that it wasn't firmly on its feet and it had more and more injuries like claw marks.

Its horns even had cracks on them.

Like it had just been in a batt-.

"Oh shit."

*Boom*

A huge rock flew past me at high speeds and hit the Dark Beast on point, sending it flying even further.

That's when I realized, It was not dashing to me, no it was yeeted towards me.

That's why I didn't see it on my sonar, it was in the fucking sky.

My sonar isn't quite capable of aerial scanning yet

Anyway back to the Dark Beasts

The Dark Beast that had flung the huge rock walked towards its fallen foe with each step causing rumbles.

Then it came to view

If the first Dark Beast was a huge monster then this one was a fucking Giant.

The first one's size came off to not bother me anymore because this guy was at least 4 times bigger than me.

It fit the description of a minotaur, Body of a man, Head of a bull…..…thing.

If only it had the body of a sickly man, but no it had the body of a jacked-up steroids man.

Now that I look at both of them, they kinda look alike.

They were both bulls, the Minotaur may be an evolution of the Taurus.

Cool

Now to get out of here.

There is no way I'm going to be in between the battle of 2 S-Ranks. I'll wait for them to tire each other out then I'll swoop in.

Using My Illusions at the World's Reality, I quickly stacked, 'Notice me not' illusions and yeeted myself out of there but not too far away then I sat and watched.

'[Status]' I said while focusing my attention on the yeeted Dark Beast.

[Name: Taurus

Threat Level: S-Rank Mid.

Bio: Taurus is a Dark Beast that can choose to either live in a group or to survive alone. It has two long horns on its head that are used to pierce its enemies when it bashes them.

It hates red.]

[Nane: Minotaur

Threat Level: S-Rank High.

Bio: The mutation of Tauras. Minotaur's are rare but not impossible to find.

Because of their evolution, they seem to lose their dashing speed for more strength.

It hates red.]

'So they are related'

As if my escape was a signal, The Minotaur dashed to the Taurus that had already recovered.

When it came close it positioned itself to dive horn first into it but it didn't rather couldn't take into consideration that Taurus was smaller than it.

So the bash attack missed but Taurus' own didn't.

Taurus hit Minotaur making it lose its balance and sending it flying far away, it falls back first onto some tree and rolls a few times before it hits a stop and tries to regain footing.

Of course, Taurus wasn't having it and began a counterattack. Another bash attack but with a twist of channeling either into the horns.

Is this extra smartest of an S-Rank beast, They possess when they evolve.

[It is, in fact not only the smarts but also the strength of a Dark Beast increases after breaking through the A-Rank Barrier into S-Rank.]

[It undergoes at least a 5-time increase in strength depending on the type of Dark Beast evolving.]

'Wow,! A five-time increase. So if I fought against an S-Rank I might not win.' I asked surprised

[Not necessarily, Your skill-set not only has a lot of power but also a lot of versatility. It just depends on whether you are smart enough to use it to its utmost potential.]

'Ok, I understand.'

After my chat with the system, I restored my focus on fighting Dark Beasts.

They seem to be evenly matched, The minotaur was stronger but the minotaur used its size to sometimes evade it.

After a few minutes of banter, The Minotaur eventually used its smarts and re-yeeted the Taurus.

Although this time it didn't let up, When the Taurus touched down hard on the ground the minotaur was not far behind.

It then began to rain earth-shattering punches on the head of Taurus even after it was dead.

While the Minotaur was still preoccupied, I got ready.

Unsheathing Firestorm I directed high amounts of fire and lightning ether into it.

The 'Notice me Not' illusion worked quite well to mask my ether leak.

Double-checking on my radar for anyone, I created a lengthwise portal just right in front of me and another just behind the Minotaur's nape.

It wasn't too far so I didn't have to waste a lot of ether to do it. It still took 50,000 units of Ether to do that.

Then I slashed, fitting Firestorm perfectly through the space crack. My killer intent came out and the Minotaur was soon alarmed.

Alas instead of retreating it looked behind wasting its opportunity to live.

Firestorm fired a combined strike of about 200,000 units of fire lightning Ether.

I also channeled from my fire and lightning core which was a little overkill.

As Firestorm went through its nape with little resistance it sent out the absorbed fire lightning ether resulting in an explosion.

*Boom*

It echoed through the forest sweeping the participants in the area of their balance, almost putting a few in death's way as it happened when they were fighting a Dark Beast.

They probably survived, I think.

The air pressure caused by the blast uprooted a lot of trees, even the one I was standing on.

I quickly portal safety, Yeah I'm able to do that now.

Still on my 'Notice me not Illusion' I moved toward the area and stopped just before the dust cloud.

Where I stood was now barren land, Trees were either uprooted and sent flying or burnt to ashes. The unaffected trees were on fire

When the dust cloud cleared, I could see the damage my attack had caused.

Minotaur's head was gone and its headless body was charred, Taurus was burnt extra crispy.

It shocked me that just two hundred thousand units of either could cause such damage to the minotaur and the environment.

Not to lie, it kinda aroused me.

Anyway, a ding came from the watch on my wrist snapping me out of my thinking. My kill counter had gone up by 1 bringing my points to 1159 points.

[AN: A change in point ranking. S-Rank and above points are multiplied by 10.]

One more glance brought my thoughts to Instructor Selussa, the only elf I know. I wonder what she'll think about this place.

She'll probably appreciate it.

Yeah Probably.

I left the area, went to my dorm, and had a good night's rest, The end of my first encounter with S-Ranks.

My thoughts?

I can take them.

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