Giant Tree Ape

 "Speaking of which, how he is doing with his mission? After all, he did take such a hard one," Ina could not help but worried of Ryker. After all, the mission he picked is the one involving a beast at the late-stage Tier 4 Genesis Beast, which is stronger than him, by a lot.

-x-

 "Where are you?" Ryker asked out loud, using his Soul Sense to find his target. The beast he is targeting is called Giant Tree Ape. A powerful Genesis Beast, it had caused great havoc to the nearby settlements, one that is close to the capital and the main source of food for it.

 Hence, why the rewards is greater than normal. After all, while the cultivators don't need food, the same could not be said about the mortals.

 As he walked in the forest, he occasionally glance upwards. After all, the Ape Beast was said to be fond of trees and often swing at the treetop. Still, he did not find them at the moment, showing how difficult it is to find the Beast and why the Barony asked the Adventure Guild for help.

 "Still, it sh-" it was through both instinct and his Soul Sense blaring alarm did he manage to avoid the fist coming towards him.

 Jumping away while twisting his body, Ryker manage to avoid the blow though the wind generated by the force behind the fist ruffled his shirt.

 "How did you manage to avoid my Soul Sense?" she question the beast, highly doubtful he well get any answer. 

 The Beast merely knocked on its chest before jumping towards him, no doubt unthreatened by it's for, namely him. Ryker did not plan to let such slight goes unpunished.

 "Let see how well you do. I need a better sparing partner anyway," he let his body turned into metallic sheen, his body gaining the lustre of of iron. 

 "Iron Body. This is the first time I will use it against a strong foe," Ryker muttered to himself. The side effect of submerging in the Yin-Yang Essence, he could now face off against powerful foe using his body without using a Body Refining Art or a Body Technique.

 While each Body Refining Art have it's own classification, for the cultivator who which to use their body but lacking a Body Refining Art, they usually abuse their body and slowly formed the three Genesis Metal Body, with the weakest being Iron, then Silver, with Gold being the strongest.

 While a Body Refining Art is more effective in forming a more powerful Body, the regular Body Refining without using Body Refining Art have the advantage of being compatible with any cultivators while some Body Refining Art is harder to achieve without significant talent.

 Not to mention, using the Genesis Metal Body, it allowed one to use any Body Technique. Different from Body Refining Art, Body Technique strengthen the Body for as long as their bodies could handle it. Using qi can allow the Body Technique to last longer, but it not as efficient as possess a robust body of one own.

 It's to bad the only Body Technique he learned is the Great Mountain Demon, a defensive type Body Technique learned when he study the tablet of Prime Earth Art.

 He activate the Body Technique, his skin turned hard, akin to rocks. The Beast jumped towards him and landed a fist on his body, but he was able to remain still, his skin absorbing the attack without any damage.

 "This is going to leave a bruise," except for some, unfortunately.

 With the Beast looking at him in surprise, wondering why the human turned into stones, he put his counterattack. His fist turned into a metallic sheen before he used Monkey Chief Fist.

 The attack his the Beast's stomach, sending it flying though it was able to land on the tree. The Giant Tree Ape growled at him, bashing it's chest again, before it clapped its hand. Tree suddenly grow all around him, surrounding him and threatening to submerge him in the bushes.

 Ryker let out a smirk, as he dived into the shadow. As the beast looked at the growing plants, Ryker find himself behind the beast, his Concealment Technique plus his mastery of the Law of Darkness allowed him to get behind the beast without it noticing.

 As he get behind the beast, he unleashed a point blank Soul Technique, Soul Echo. The burst of Soul cause immense pain to the beast, the Giant Tree Ape clutching it's agonize head. As it is in great pain, Ryker took the chance to swing his sword at it's neck.

 The blade was empowered by Metal qi, as he used an Offensive Technique from Indomitable Metal Scripture, Metal Ray Surge. A metallic light come out of the sword, threatening to behead the Giant Tree Ape.

 However, while the Giant Tree Ape is in a weakened state, it is still a Tier 4 Genesis Beast at the late stage. The beast was able to turn around and put it's arm in front of it, light green glow coming from the arm as plants grow around it.

 With it's arm gaining some bulk from the plants wrapped around it, the beast was able to block the attack with some difficulty, lightly pushed backward from the attack with no significant damage except on its soul.

 "This is interesting," Ryker said, as his sword gain another glow, but this time of orange glow, the silver-eyed man empowered his sword with Fire qi this time.

 Seeing this, the beast roared before it leap from tree to tree, wanting to confuse its foe. Ryker used his Soul Sense to detect the beast but find it hard to keep up with it's speed.

 Seeing how fast the beast was on trees, Ryker decide to cut it's foothold. Swinging his sword, Metal Ray Surge hit the nearby trees, cutting it at the base and causing it to fall. However, it did not bother the beast as it clapped again, causing more plants to grow.

 "Well, if you love plants so much, then you get to watch them burn!" he unleashed a large fireball into the direction of the growing plants, causing the one directly hit to turn into ashes while the one close to it to be caught on fire.

 Seeing the plants being burned, the beast roared in rage before jumping towards him, it's feet heading toward his head.

 Not planning on having a meeting the beast's feet, Ryker dodges the attack, which is a good thing, as there is now a crater where the beast landed.

 The Giant Tree Ape soon jump out of the crater before turning back towards him, rage and desire to kill him in it's eye. The two fighters room face one another, ready for another fight.