CHAPTER 31: FIGHTING THE MOUNTAIN LEVEL AGAIN

’Seriously? Do I have to encounter trouble every single time?’

Tyler couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

Looking at the ten-meter-long cobra, he couldn’t help but feel that his instinct had dulled.

He didn’t even sense such a large beast while being incredibly close to it.

But then he noticed something.

The cobra was moving towards him. It was literally slithering towards him, and he didn’t even react.

’What the hell?’

Only when he realized that he wasn’t reacting, he quickly tapped the ground with great force and jumped into the air.

He clapped his hands together and sucked in a lot of air.

[First Skill- Fire Dragon Roar]

As he activated this skill, he released an enormous wave of flame that descended towards the snake.

But in mid-air, he shaped the wave into several fireballs.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was similar to Jacob’s Scattering Fireball, but his flames were much hotter and explosive.

Each fireball landed at a certain distance from the snake. It tried to slide away from attack range but failed due to the fireballs falling all over its surroundings.

’Hmm! I tried to control it while it was in my mouth, but I couldn’t.’

’But it’s a surprise to find out that I can control the flames even after they have been released.’

Once again, he tried a similar thing, but instead of launching several scattering fireballs, he condensed all of his flame into a huge fireball.

The snake that was caught up in the explosion couldn’t sense it coming. The fireball simply dropped on top of it, burning its snake and killing it instantly.

Thud!

Tyler stared at the damage done by the fireball. It formed a huge crater underneath the snake.

’But outside that, it didn’t do any damage. So, this is the true skill of a Fourth Rank. Control!’

His flames burned hotter than magma, but even so, they only damaged the snake, and upon exploding, they didn’t even spread.

He had kept that instruction in the back of his mind, but he didn’t expect it to work so perfectly.

’This kind of control..... And, without any sort of training... It’s kinda scary.’

At this moment, Tyler was genuinely scared of what higher-ranking hunters could do.

Just a Fourth Rank hunter had achieved this level of control.

He found that his control over Aura was so strong that if he just fought with his Aura, he could easily defeat anyone one rank lower than his.

Even if his opponent relied on his ability and skills.

’That being said, I need to continue finding more Natural Fruits.’

He thought to himself, took out a scroll, and sealed the soul of the beast inside the scroll.

Then, he moved around the forest with his Explosive Steps. He was quite careful not to startle any powerful monster.

The previous snake was only a Rank Three Monster. It was weaker than him, and he used his skill to its fullest strength.

Otherwise, fighting a monster that could hide its presence to the point that he couldn’t sense it moving would be a huge problem.

On top of that, the monster was right in front of his eyes.

’Seriously, these monsters have some ridiculous abilities.’

He thought to himself as he moved around.

It didn’t take him long to find another fruit. But after finding it, he continued searching and ended up finding another monster with three fruits.

’This is not going to end well.’

He gulped.

Because the monster had already risen to its feet. It looked at Tyler, and its monstrous killing intent overflowed.

’Why the hell did I encounter this monster?’

At this moment, Tyler was one hundred percent confirmed that this monster was trying to reach Country Level.

That’s why it was trying to find trees with Natural Fruits to rest. Previously, there were only two fruits; this time, there were three.

He couldn’t imagine any other reason for this monster to stay under such a tree if not for its promotion.

For a moment, he wanted to retreat.

With his speed, this beast wouldn’t be able to chase him.

’But those fruits!’

His eyes fell on three Natural Fruits.

That represented three hunters. Three hunters represented three more villages under him.

He was a man with an ambition.

While it took a while to grow this ambition, it perfectly fit with the current changes in the world.

Because of the currency change, spirits and monsters would be hunted more. They would retaliate by attacking more humans.

And, the villages would be their first option. He didn’t think about this when he told Diva about his idea.

But the fact that Diva accepted his idea and even worked on it, promoted it, and successfully implemented it meant he wasn’t wrong.

The nobles and rich families stayed under the protection, while brave hunters and the poor were exploited.

This world was corrupted to the point where corruption was a normal thing. That’s why he wanted to change this world.

And, if he wasn’t reborn in this world, perhaps, for the next thousand years, nobody would’ve thought of going against this world.

But since he was reborn, he didn’t want to stay normal. He didn’t want to stay weak.

He wanted to reach the top, where he wasn’t bound by rules but his own morality.

Sometimes he wondered whether his ambitions were wrong.

But every time one answer came to his mind.

’If I don’t even achieve it, what’s the point of my rebirth?’

Now that things were finally changing, it was his time to use this change to his advantage.

Create more hunters and take over the villages.

He wanted to create a systematic union of cities with similar political power to the country.

For this process, he needed hunters. Only hunters could protect the villages.

But creating hunters wasn’t easy.

One hunter required one Natural Fruit. The supply of Natural Fruit was limited, so much so that it would cost millions of gold coins.

Now, it would cost even more.

Because the change of currency would surely force those nobles to take more Natural Fruits and get stronger.

Only this way could they keep their power.

"Let’s fight!"

Tyler released a deep breath.

At this moment, the killing intent of the monster had solidified, but it hadn’t moved.

Even though it could feel the changes in Tyler. It knew if Tyler wanted to escape, it wouldn’t be able to catch him.

And if Tyler tricked it like before, the monster would feel even more aggrieved.

The moment it sensed Tyler’s fighting intention, it ramped up its speed. Reaching beyond the speed of sound, it created a sonic boom as it moved.

Its front claw rose, coated with several spinning wind blades.

It struck down with so much force that it distorted the air, creating a pressure that even shook the ground underneath.

Till now, the attack hadn’t even landed.

It was a good thing that some skills could be activated instantaneously.

[Fourth Skill- Lightning Cloak]

Unlike before, he was able to not only activate Enhanced Strength but also Lightning Cloak, pushing his speed, strength, and defenses to a whole new level.

The creation of Fourth Heroic Skill pretty much represented the Fifth Rank, but it didn’t have the power to back it up.

Even so, the combination of the two skills were much more formidable than he imagined.

He raised his four fingers and stabbed forward. A lot of lightning gathered on his palm, concentrated on his finger as they collided against the claw.

Bang!

The collision between lightning and wind created a powerful distortion in the air.

Electrical charges flew everywhere, shattering the ground while the wind split the rocks.

At this moment, the monster, enraged by the previous encounter, pushed its strength to the extreme, pressing down on Tyler.

Even though Tyler’s strength had improved, he couldn’t bear this kind of force.

So, he skillfully grabbed the claw of the monster, used it to somersault into the air.

Bang!

The monster no longer had anything blocking its power, so the front limb struck the ground, shattering not just the ground but its force, destroying the branches as well.

Surprisingly enough, those trees weren’t completely ruptured. If anything, they looked greener.

Because the old leaves and branches were the only ones that got blown away.

Tyler didn’t have time to observe the surroundings. The sheer power of this attack sent a shockwave several kilometers away.

Fortunately, he was in mid-air and preparing for another move.

He once again pointed his four fingers towards the beast and used the downward falling momentum to stab it with all his strength.

[Lightning Cutter]

He wanted to call it Lightning Blade, but then he thought it would be better with a sword or a blade.

His fingers pierced through the skin of the monster, but it just kept releasing several wind blades from the surroundings.

All of them launched towards him.

’It is willing to take this attack, just to shred me with these wind blades.’

’But can they?’

The next moment, he deactivated the Enhanced Strength and pointed his face towards those wind blades.

He took a deep breath, released a volley of fire as he started spinning on top of the monster.

[First Skill Modified- Fire Dragon Tornado]