CHAPTER 31: DODGE! DODGE!! DODGE!!!

He clenched his jaw and focused.

It was his first time flying with mana, and the reality hit fast—he was terrible at it.

He couldn’t stabilize. He zipped from one angle to another, jerking in the air awkwardly. The propulsion was too raw, the force too wild.

And worse...

It was draining his mana far too fast.

His eyes widened as he saw the numbers dropping. The consumption rate was insane—much faster than he could reabsorb it.

From what he could calculate, he had maybe four minutes left before his reserves bottomed out. That was if he didn’t get hit. His mana recovery rate was good—he could refill in about ten minutes, and it was only getting better with every level-up.

But ten minutes was a lifetime in battle. And he didn’t have a lifetime.

Not wanting to waste another drop, he immediately cut off the flow.

Mana stopped gushing from his body, and just like that—

He fell.

The wind howled around him as he plummeted from the sky.

His body tensed from the sudden descent, and for a brief second—fear crept in.

But he steeled his heart.

He focused. Eyes sharp. Breathing steady.

This was all part of the plan.

He crashed into the ground with a loud thud.

The impact was brutal, but his body held strong. He grunted in pain but there were no broken bones. Only numbness. That was how tough he was now.

Wasting no time, he sat down cross-legged, entering a meditative lotus position, calming his racing heart.

His mind went quiet.

He started thinking—hard and fast.

But the ravens weren’t going to give him the luxury of peace.

As if on cue, they swooped down the moment they saw him grounded. Their screeches tore through the air.

But of course—he expected that.

He wasn’t actually vulnerable.

This was bait.

The moment they came close, Leon twisted his body, spinning unnaturally, pivoting on his waist and shoulders in an impossible way that only his new body could manage.

He barely dodged a set of talons that ripped through the air a breath away from his neck.

He had to avoid getting scratched—no matter what.

The claws were deadly. Razor-sharp. Like E-rank daggers coated in malice. Just one swipe could ruin everything.

And those beaks?

Sharp as bone-carved spears. Fast. Precise.

Every attack from them was like a jab from a needle sword—straight, cruel, and surgical.

After dodging the first strike, Leon lost balance again and tumbled. But as he fell, he didn’t panic—he struck back.

Using the downward force of his fall, he kicked a raven midair, catching it clean in the chest.

CRACK!!

Its body twisted violently in the air before crashing into the earth like a broken doll.

Instant kill.

Leon didn’t stop.

He hit the ground and immediately started rolling, using his instincts to guide him—zigzagging across the ground as the remaining two ravens tried to finish him off.

Beaks stabbed the soil he had just vacated.

Claws tore at empty air.

They didn’t hold back.

They didn’t want to give him a single second to breathe.

But Leon kept rolling—perfectly dodging each strike, his body reacting on pure instinct, pure reflex. For thirty long seconds, the three of them danced in a blur of motion, but even they could feel it:

This pattern couldn’t continue forever.

If this were the old him—just a normal LVL 1 human—he’d have collapsed by now. But not anymore.

His current body had the strength of someone in the Qi Absorption Realm. His stamina, his speed, his strength—10 times that of a regular human.

He could keep going longer than they thought.

But he didn’t want to drag this out.

He wanted to finish it—now.

Without warning, from the ground, Leon somersaulted backwards, using sheer force to launch himself back to his feet in a swift flip.

Midway through the motion—he felt it.

Killing intent.

He barely had time to react.

The ravens struck.

Beaks first.

CRACK!!!

His mana shield shattered on contact, blue shards scattering like broken glass.

Then came the claws—brutal, relentless, and precise.

Strike. Claw.

Beak. Strike.

Over and over.

Leon was thrown backward again, crashing against the earth for the second time.

Blood now dripped from his arm and chest, his lips cracked and bleeding. He clenched his jaw, digging his fingers into the dirt.

He didn’t scream.

He didn’t cry.

He gritted his teeth—refusing to yield.

Even under the barrage, he endured.

He was not going to fall here. Not now.

Not in this cursed dungeon.

He looked up to the sky only to see the shocked expression of the LVL 6 raven.

It had never once expected its subordinates to actually injure Leon at the last minute.

Noticing Leon’s gaze, the beast turned its crimson eyes back on him—and he felt it.

The message.

The beast was mocking him.

And as those eyes bore into his broken body, it reminded him...

Of the old days. The whispers. The sneers. The way everyone mocked him for being a no-talent.

It was always his fault.

It was his fault for being born weak...

His fault for being slow... His fault for trying to survive in a world where the strong reign supreme.

Now, it wasn’t even a human mocking him anymore.

It was a bird. Mocked... by a damn bird.

And all because of an injury? What injury was he even talking about...?

The injury given to him by a raven? A bird injured him to such a pitiable state?

And this... was the second injury he’d received in this dungeon.

The first was by the chicken—when he first entered.

Back then, he had been caught off guard, not paying enough attention to his surroundings. Despite its strange abilities, the chicken boss had struck him clean.

But Leon had grown since then. He was smarter. Stronger than he ever was before.

And he hoped... truly hoped... that he could outsmart these ravens too.

But now—things had turned for the worse.