Chapter 7: Special Beasts

No one knew exactly where they came from or if it was something the light poles caused but the world was now habitat to what human beings currently knew as special beasts.

Although there were certain modifications on some of them, they were mostly like normal beasts.

However, they could harness the power of mana just like human beings to use their abilities, and because of this, they were classified as extremely dangerous.

Though most beasts were dangerous, not all of them were on the same level of danger.

The beasts had a ranking system which was determined by the colour of the aura they would constantly emit.

So far, Erian had only been able to see beasts of the lowest rank which were known as basic tier beasts. Basic tier beasts were known to exude a faint white aura and weren't much of a threat to anyone level ten or above.

The tier after that was something he had only heard his mother talk about.

Intermediate tier beasts, which exuded a blue aura a bit brighter than the white aura of the previous tier, were known to be about ten times stronger than basic tier beasts, and depending on the type of beast, anyone who was yet to reach level twenty would struggle to take an intermediate tier beast down alone.

This was the reason why his mother ended her lesson about intermediate-tier beasts with an important message.

"Remember, Riri, if you ever come across an intermediate-tier beast, just turn the other way and run."

"I don't think I can run from this one, Mom." He muttered, that memory fresh in his mind.

Highly irritated, the serpent struck at him with its head, aiming to swallow him in one attempt.

Reacting quickly, Erian jumped back, his eyes receiving a blue glow as he activated absolute vision.

His heart was beating quite rapidly, and he could feel his limbs beginning to tremble a bit, but as long as his mind remained calm enough, he always knew the right decision to make.

Seeing the first strike fail, the snake struck again as soon as Erian's feet touched the ground.

This time, he was able to avoid the snake's strike with a flip, and just as the beast struck the ground and kicked up a great deal of dust, he slammed its head into the head with his right foot, forcing out a loud hiss out of it.

"The eyes." He muttered under his heavy breathing as he quickly spun the dagger in his head.

Finding the serpent's eyes, he quickly aimed for one of them with the dagger.

However, he wasn't able to hit the eye just like he wanted as the beast was fast enough to shut its eyes.

Hitting the eyelid, Erian's attack was meant with a clang.

The force from hitting something that fast quickly travelled through the dagger to his hands, shaking them heavily and almost causing him to drop his dagger as he staggered a few steps back.

The beast used the opportunity to throw him off its head, and just as the boy was flying off toward the left, it swung its tail slamming him down to the ground.

"Ugh." Erian groaned as he struggled to pick himself up.

Raising its tail, the beast sent it slamming down on him once again, this time with enough force to finish him off.

Quickly rolling to the side, Erian was able to just avoid the hit as the tail slammed down on the ground creating quite a huge dent.

'I'm afraid I won't be able to get up if that hits me again.'

Seeing the second hit with its tail miss, the beast resorted to using the first thing he used against him.

Just after struggling to get himself up on both feet, two ropes suddenly latched onto both feet, pulling him off the ground straight toward the snake.

"Fine, let's put an end to this." He muttered.

Stretching both hands, he opened two portals and quickly pulled out two of his smoke bombs.

Before the beast could throw him into its mouth, he sent both of them flying toward him. Both of them exploded as soon as they made contact with the beast, enveloping both of them in smoke.

What was heard next was the sound of the beast hissing and screeching as he jumped out of the smoke backwards.

The beast shook its body aggressively, clearing the smoke to reveal its body and its eyes, which both had two big needles stuck in them now.

Under normal circumstances, the snake would still be able to find him, given that snakes relied more on the heat their prey emitted and their sensitive tongues to them.

However, the pain it was experiencing now seemed to have overshadowed all of that.

Still shaking its body aggressively out of pain, its tail came flying toward Erian.

With a quick jump, he was able to avoid the tail, and just as the tail slammed down on the ground, he jumped onto it.

Flinging its tail upward just like Erian predicted, the beast sent him flying upward toward his head.

Getting to its head in no time, Erian latched onto its head and with the dagger in his hand, he stabbed deep into the snake's throat.

The beast hissed and screamed even louder as it shook its head vigorously in an attempt to shake him off.

However, Erian refused to budge and held on tightly to the dagger, pushing deeper into the beast's throat.

The blood from the snake splashed all over his face and body, but he still held on firmly, believing that the moment he let go of that dagger, his chance of leaving the forest alive would fall significantly.

It didn't take long before his persistence began to pay off.

The snake was getting weaker as its vigorous shaking was much slower, and after forcing out one last muffled hiss before crashing down on the ground.

Now able to breathe a little sigh of relief, Erian let go of the dagger still stuck in the snake's body before rolling off a little distance away from the beast.

Staring up into the darkness created by the tree's branches, he felt like his heart was going to pop out of his chest at any moment.

After a while, a smile appeared on his face as he turned to the dead snake.

"I actually managed to kill an intermediate-tier beast by myself."