Swirling Wind

After escaping from the slime, Alex went on looking for whatever he could find. What he wanted the most was to find a room in the second floor that had several monsters just like the chaos room in the first floor. After all, Alex was here for the cores more than practice as he could train inside the tower but he currently needs as much money as possible.

Walking down the corridor, Alex held tightly the dual swords in his hands. His eyes were moving here and there while all his other senses were activated to the maximum possible. He didn't want to be surprised by an attack that he wouldn't know where it came from. He was in the second floor of a dungeon and this floor was home to rank 2 martial monsters.

Although his strength was great, he knew that a sneak attack could easily kill him and incase he comes into contact with a peak rank 2 monster, his life would be in great danger. The power level gaps between stages of higher ranks was bigger compared to those in the lower ranks. That was to imply that even though Alex was able to dominate in rank 1, that couldn't always be applicable to higher ranks.

Slowly, Alex walked forward and before long, he encountered the second monster on the floor. Before him, was a brown bear. Truly, this dungeon was the only one in the entire kingdom where one could find different varieties of monsters. In other dungeons, one could only find a particular species of monsters in that the dungeons were named after the monsters inhabiting them.

The bear in front of him was of about three meters in height towering in front of Alex and its body frame was covering Alex's path. The monster was a mid stage rank 2 monster and Alex knew that to defeat it, he would need to utilize much strength unlike the initial stage hobgoblin that was in the first floor. This one had good defensive and offensive ability. Its thick skin for defense and its rippling muscles for greater power.

Alex stopped moving forward and stared at the opponent before him. He didn't want to make any hasty moves that would end up bringing him trouble. But after remembering that he didn't have much time on his side, Alex decided to end this fight as soon as possible. So far, he had only gained a single rank 2 core and it was only of an initial stage monster.

Taking a deep breath, Alex took his fighting stance. This was a stance that he had been using since he began training with Simon and now, he had already gotten accustomed to it after fighting several opponents in this past month. The bear didn't continue standing there in ceremony and charged towards Alex after a roar. As soon as it arrived before him, it brandished its claws at him.

Alex's reaction speed was high so he was able to easily dodge the claw. This bear having too much muscles hindered its movements and thus it had low agility hence Alex was able to easily keep up with it even without using a movement technique. Wanting to end this faster as a commotion could easily attract other monsters as well as other hunters present nearby, Alex used his movement technique light steps.

Like a flash, Alex charged towards the bear. Since his agility had improved, his movement technique had also increased the boost that it was giving to him. When he arrived before the bear, Alex brandished one of the short swords at the bear's chest. The bear reacted by using one of its claws to block it. Alex expected that the sword would cut through the bear's paw just like always but it seemed that he had greatly underestimated the defensive capabilities of a rank 2 monster.

ROARRR!

The sword only left a slight cut that caused the blood of the bear to drip on the ground causing the bear to roar in pain and anger. It seemed that even the bear had its own expectations. It seemed to believe that its defensive capabilities were capable of easily stopping the sword without leaving a scratch. But who would have thought that this would be the result?

Both Alex and the bear took a step back as they deeply stared at the opponent before them. All of their expectations were crushed and this made them reconsider their moves. Alex knew that if he didn't expend his energy, he wouldn't be capable of getting through the monster's defense and thus he had to use his skills. Now, it was time to use his initial skill that he had learnt when training with Simon, swirling wind dual sword technique.

Alex hadn't gotten much chances to put this technique into use and this was the time for him to get to utilize it. How can he painstakingly learn a skill only to keep it in reserve section? That was unacceptable and remembering all he had to go through to master this skill, Alex couldn't allow that to happen.

Swirling winds, slash, stab, rotation, intent and finally flying intent. Although according to Simon Alex had mastered the technique, the truth was that he hadn't mastered the fourth and fifth stages. Sword intent or intent in general wasn't something that could be gotten that easily. Intent was something gained after one's mastery of a specific weapon reaches great heights in that a simple attack could be fatal compared to other skills.

Although swirling wind dual swords technique was only a rank 0 technique, that was only because Alex had only mastered the first three steps. But if he mastered the fourth stage, the the story would be different. Now, Alex intended to utilize this technique for attack. And wasting no time, he tried doing what he had not done before while using the technique, using qi.

That's right, Alex was using this skill before he awakened and this he lacked qi. According to the books that he had read while back at home, he knew that warriors usually utilize their qi in attacks to make them fatal. So, wasting no time, Alex moved his qi from his navel region and moved it towards the sword in his right hand.

The qi slowly covered the sword's blade making it have a silvery lustre. He then placed his right foot in front while his body also leaned forward. The left hand holding the other sword rose and in a motion like grabbing a spear, the sword in his hand was raised to the waist level and a silvery lustre shone at its tip.

Although the bear's intelligence was low, it could still sense the danger that was coming from Alex. Wasting no time, it swung its left paw at Alex. Alex on the other hand had already finished the technique's motion and swung his right sword at the dropping paw of the bear. The sword and the paw met mid air and the collision that was supposed to occur didn't happen.

SLASH!

The sword cleanly cut through the paw and left a slash mark on the left side of the bear's chest. Even before the bear roared in pain or the chopped arm dropped to the ground, Alex's left hand moved while the sword in his right hand was once again covered in a silvery lustre. The sword in his left hand moved and just like a spear, easily pierced through the chest and the heart of the bear.

Alex immediately removed the sword from the bear's chest and with a 360° turn, the sword in his right hand easily chopped the head of the bear from its body cleanly. There wasn't a sound or any kind of noise, it was a flawless movement that was carried out with elegance and power combined with Alex's dexterity.

Thud! Thud! THUD!

Just like that, the arm, the head and finally the body of the bear fell on the ground. Alex who had just performed the act didn't celebrate on his victory, rather, he speechlessly watched as the bear fell down. He truly didn't expect that the swirling wind technique was this deadly. This was a result of using qi in his attack thus making the attack power immense as compared to when he utilized the technique plainly.

This technique could already be used by an unawakened Alex to slay a rank 1 mid stage monster and now he was awakened and he was at the peak of rank 1. Furthermore, he used qi in his attack. Alex blankly stared at the scene before him for a while and only got back to his senses when the light enveloped the bear's corpse.

Alex watched as the bear's corpse disappeared before leaving behind a core that was shining with great intensity when compared to those from rank 1 monsters. Alex took a deep breath before stepping forward and took the core. Wasting no time, he stored in his inventory and stared at the swords in his hands. A smile then crept onto his face behind the mask.

Swirling wind technique, this technique was named like this because once one masters all the five stages of the technique, he or she can produce winds when using this attack. At the third stage if the technique is fully mastered, one can cause the winds to swirl and after the attack is carried out, these winds will make the opponent loose footing.

Now, Alex knew that this technique wasn't that simple as he had thought it to be. It was a technique that was of high quality when mastered and Alex swore to himself that he would master this sword technique. And for that, he needs to use his swords more and what place was he supposed to train in while looking for money while at? The dungeon, and that's just where he was. It was finally time to utilize this dungeon well.