A battle of speed

Zephyr kept attacking the cheetah relentlessly, making only his dagger's afterimage visible, but despite all this was still on a losing end with the cheetah using water and air slashes to strike Zephyr just as much.

Zephyr went on a defensive from the barrage of elemental attacks, while looking for a chance to use [Firebolt] as with the case of the last leopard he fought.

While battling at insane speeds, they failed to notice someone rising from the parts of a broken tree.

The assailant, whose eyes and aura had become more ferocious, lunged forward at his top speeds with a dagger in tow, the cheetah had destroyed the other dagger when it hit him.

"Crack!" Sounds all over his body as he straightened his wrist and shoulders while moving faster towards the ongoing battle.

And then…

BAAM!

With a thunder clapping sound, we see the cheetah flying with a kick, that also breaks part of it's rib cage and sends it crashing into several trees before stopping with another Bang!.

The sheer force used to pull off such a fit causes Zephyr's body to be pushed back while the assailant found his leg twisted 180° with his bones crushed from such a fit, before puking out lots of blood.

"Bam" goes the assailant as he falls backwards like a mango tree with his eyes closed, he had passed out.

"Ah" said Zephyr as he got up while shaking his head from his discomfort and the disorientation he was feeling.

The blast has pushed him a few meters from the point of impact.

[Zephyr, the cheetah has been severely wounded, so get up and finish the job] said Xenon.

With this, Zephyr forcefully calmed his mind while locking onto the figure of the cheetah who he could see getting up with difficulty and puking a lot of blood.

Of course, Zephyr wasn't going to wait for it to stand, rather keeping it lying down would be much better, and as such…

ZOM!

Like a car using nitro speed, Zephyr appeared before the cheetah with his dagger heading for the throat, but please, didn't they say a cornered beast is the most dangerous? Well, Zephyr was about to witness it firsthand.

At that moment, the cheetah used the same [Sonic roar] to blast Zephyr away before setting it's stance and running after him.

Zephyr, who had anticipated such a move, manoeuvred his body with the help of Xenon to pull on one of the remaining trees to stop his momentum.

Yet, once it stopped, he found the cheetah already in front of him with it's eyes being more ferocious than before.

The cheetah was done playing, otherwise underestimating his prey, it had earned that much respect at least, but alas, that wasn't enough.

Roar!

Before Zephyr could think of avoiding, he his hit with a roaring skill which makes use of the air, blasting Zephyr away once again.

'Shit' thought Zephyr, although he could regenerate continuously, the pain of being hit with a skill at point blank range isn't something you want to feel.

'Think, think, think, What can I do?' Zephyr thought while darting his eyes around, trying to find anything.

Do remember, that Zephyr also moves as fast as the cheetah, and this isn't limited to his legs, his nerves, reflexes and the speed he responses to stimulus as well as thinking speed are also very high.

Hence, he can still do the above things while moving backwards after being suspended in the air due to the cheetah's attack.

His thoughts whirred as he thought of a solution to the situation while seeing the cheetah speeding towards him, ready to strike again.

That was when Xenon finally spoke out.

[You dimwit, what about your skills, can't you use those]

"Ahh" only then did it click in Zephyr's head like the last puzzle pieces falling into place, but just then..

BAM!

Zephyr slammed into a tree and like before the cheetah arrived before him, and pressed its paw on Zephyr's chest, effectively restraining his movements to stop him from running.

Huuuu!

The cheetah began to gather air into its mouth, wanting to release it all at once to kill Zephyr, but unfortunately it forgotten or maybe it didn't even know that air sustains fire, because the next instant Zephyr raised up his hand while being pressed into ground as if he was despairing and didn't want to die.

The cheetah who couldn't care less what Zephyr wanted, increased the amount of wind gathered, ready to kill him and end this hunting session once and for all.

Alas, it was not meant to be so, for the next instant, Zephyr released [Firebolt] into the mouth of the unsuspecting cheetah.

"BOOM!" The cheetah went like the last leopard as it whole body rapidly inflated and blew up akin to a military bomb.

Of course, Zephyr also took massive damage and so did some trees nearby Zephyr which were set ablaze.

*Cough*Cough*Cough*

Zephyr coughed heavily as his body rapidly healed, the explosion had left his skin full of burns, his face to his feet, charred black like charcoal.

Heck, charcoal might be better at this point.

As his charred skin was shed and a new skin replaced it, Zephyr raised his body up slowly to observe his surroundings.

To which he saw the forest burnt while the part of the forest Zephyr first fought the assailant as well as the cheetah was completely devastated.

He began to go over the battle in his mind as reminisced on his weak points and many mistakes.

Well, he had become conceited for a while, because he hadn't met beasts who were better than him since he defeated the leopard.

Yet now, he knew better than to think of himself as a formidable opponent, because till the end of the fight, the cheetah never went all out on Zephyr.

Yet, it had almost killed him, the cheetah's mistake was, it didn't account for unknown variables and being too arrogant.

Yes, arrogant, because even after getting it's rib fractured, it still didn't take it as a serious opponent. But as a slightly stronger prey, and that led to its death.

'I have to increase my strength along with my dagger mastery' thought Zephyr, as another thing he clearly noticed was the unmistakable difference between he and the assailant handled daggers.

While thinking about this, a blue gleam shined in his line of sight, immediately pulling him out of his reverie.

He looks only to see an orb with an ocean blue colour, wondering for a few seconds where he had seen such a thing.

And like lightning it hit him...

"Skill orb" He said.

That's right, it's a skill orb, a skill...like a man who woke up from a stupor, he quickly realises by abruptly getting up and hurriedly picking it up.

In his hands, he observes it even more when his eyes suddenly glow and words come into view.

[Skill Orb

Rank: Tier 2

Effects: Grants a player the skill Water blade]

"Hmm, so this is [Inspect]?" Zephyr said while looking at the status of the item.

[No, that's definitely something more, the inspect skill doesn't show the specific skill granted]

[It's most likely another one of your eye perks]

"Oh yeah, why don't I see any crystals and what about the rewards?"

[The notifications were sent while your eyes where still charred, that's why you didn't see it]

"Ok, but what about the crystals"

[They're all in your inventory]

"Huh? But I didn't put them they"

[Yes, you didn't, I did, immediately you killed the cheetah, since your mind capabilities have grown since then]

[Plus you only need to do it once manually on a specific object, before I copy the way you did it and do it automatically]

"Ok" Zephyr conceded without thinking too much about it.

"Now, what should we do next?" He asked Xenon. Who answered right after.

[First, put the beast's carcass in your inventory, then let's for the guy you came to save (which is Kang Soo Jin), then head to the cave, I think you've done more than enough testing your current limits]

"Yeah, let's do that" Zephyr said and began to move when suddenly felt slightly cold.

"Huh? Why do I feel-" Zephyr didn't even finish before noticing his clothes had burnt-off when the cheetah exploded.

"Great, now I need some clothes"

[Well, it's about time you used the shop]

"The shop?"

[Yes, Gaia's or should I say, the system shop]