Undying Warlord

"This time, I won't allow you to play around with me," Dilan mumbled before his eyes turned serious.

He knew that the EmeraldClaw Bear was completely different from the CrimsonClaw Bear. But that didn't mean it was weaker.

In fact, Dilan was pretty sure that the EmeraldClaw Bear was a bigger threat than the CrimsonClaw Bear.

That was also why he didn't show a trace of hesitation.

"Step back!!" He shouted out while activating [Thunder Step], and [Second Acceleration] at the same time.

Dilan's Agility skyrocketed, but he didn't feel powerful enough.

Thus, he activated [Gale] once in order to disappear from the EmeraldClaw Bear's sight. Dilan reappeared ten meters ahead and was standing only 20 meters away from the monster.

However, all of a sudden, Dilan was holding two crimson gleaming daggers, which neither Ailee nor Oliver had ever seen.

But at the sight of the daggers that Dilan wielded, the EmeraldClaw Bear's eyes narrowed, and a terrifying roar followed suit.

"Yeah buddy, those belong to one of your colleagues," Dilan mumbled before blasting forward.

He disappeared in the thicket of trees for a moment and shot upward a tree within a quarter of a second just to use the thick trunk of the tree to catapult his body towards the EmeraldClaw Bear.

Dilan's speed was terrifyingly high, and it was impossible for Ailee and Oliver to follow his trajectory.

Only the purple trail which he left behind gave a rough indication of Dilan's position.

However, contrary to the two human Ascenders, the EmeraldClaw Bear could precisely follow Dilan's movements.

It was as if it could actually keep up with Dilan's speed and blindingly fast motions.

This was actually what the EmeraldClaw Bear did. Its unboosted Agility stat was already above the threshold that a Tier-1 existence could reach.

The EmeraldClaw Bear had an Agility breaking through 80, and it was possible for the monster to further boost its Agility, using an ability called [Zephyrus' Boost].

Powerful wind currents engulfed the EmeraldClaw Bear, nearly lifting the monster. Yet, instead of actually lifting the bear, it was more like its weight was non-existent, allowing the monster to move much faster than anyone else.

[Zephyrus' Boost] also increased the EmeraldClaw Bear's Agility upon being used and further increased its Agility.

In an instant, Dilan's two agility-boosting abilities turned insignificant in the face of the EmeraldClaw Bear. It was now faster than Dilan!

Thus, his movements were easily perceived by the monster.

'It can read my moves!' Dilan quickly noticed, but it didn't surprise him.

From the beginning, he could tell that the EmeraldClaw Bear was as powerful as the other one. It shouldn't have such an endurable body as the CrimsonClaw Bear, but that was something Dilan had to find out first.

Instead of being endurable and overly powerful in terms of its Strength stat, the EmeraldClaw Bear was extremely fast. That was the monster's perk, and Dilan had figured this out right from the moment he saw how smoothly it moved through the thicket.

However, this was something Dilan wanted to take advantage of.

While he catapulted his entire body toward the EmeraldClaw Bear, he threw one of the daggers straight at the monster.

Usually, Dilan would never sacrifice his weapon to do something as stupid as throwing it around. However, Old Jeff had forged him a total of 10 daggers, by grinding and polishing each of the CrimsonClaw Bear's crimson claws.

When the first dagger was thrown out, another one manifested in Dilan's hand. It was easy to replace them as long as threw his weapons using the hand where the storage ring was located.

It made things much easier.

The crimson dagger shot towards the EmeraldClaw Bear, who could clearly perceive it. Lifting one of its paws, the crimson dagger was blocked.

However, even if the EmeraldClaw Bear was exceptionally fast, Dilan was still stronger in terms of stats. Thus, the impact of the crimson dagger was not something the EmeraldClaw Bear could simply ignore.

The paw which the bear used to block the dagger that had been thrown at it was slightly pushed backward.

At the same time, Dilan was almost right in front of the bear, and he could already smell its pungent breath.

But just when Dilan was about to slash out, the bear's other paw lunged out at him. With a shocking speed, the paw cut through the air, and it was about to impact on Dilan when a blue shield appeared right in front of the Emerald Claw.

Dilan had activated [Aegis' Shield] with full power once to block the slash that had already been initiated, and when the distance to the EmeraldClaw Bear had further narrowed, Dilan activated [Aegis' Shield] a second time.

The second time he activated [Aegis' Shield], Dilan didn't use much mana. Instead, he merely blocked the EmeraldClaw Bear's right paw, which he had earlier pushed back with the use of the thrown crimson dagger.

The weaker [Aegis' Shield] prevented the EmeraldClaw Bear and used its paw to initiate an attack.

Thus, with the use of two Aegis' Shields, it was possible for Dilan to unarm the Bear and to blast straight into its chest while holding the crimson daggers right in front of him.

Impacting on the EmeraldClaw Bear, Dilan felt how the razor-sharp daggers pierced straight through its thick fur, the bear's flesh, and even the monster's bones.

He twisted the daggers by using every inch of strength in his body to rip the weapons, and tore out the daggers, just to pierce them into the bear once again.

The monster roared out in pain, endless pain, however, there was nothing it could do about it.

Its head had lunged out for Dilan, but he had moved rapidly, pushing his feet from the bloodied body of the EmeraldClaw Bear the moment he sensed that it would attack him.

The bear had been drastically weakened and it was barely able to stand. Intestines spilled out of the huge wound Dilan had inflicted, and it was merely a matter of minutes before the bear would eventually die.

Nonetheless, the bear didn't want to go down alone. It wanted to take Dilan with it.

Yet, when one of the crimson daggers gleamed in a white light just as the EmeraldClaw Bear lunged out with its head, everyone knew that the fight was over.

[Mana Slash]!

Dilan activated [Mana Slash], and attacked his opponent straightforwardly as he pierced out with the crimson dagger the moment the bear lunged out.

He didn't use his entire mana, but only a portion of it. However, that was already more than enough to end the life of the severely injured monster.

It slumped to the ground seconds after Dilan's mana slash pierced through its wide-open maw. The emerald eyes of the monster slowly lost their light and dimmed down. They turned lifeless and the body collapsed on the ground, leaving behind a mere corpse.

Dilan started to breathe heavily when the EmeraldClaw Bear collapsed on the ground. He had just used the majority of his mana to defeat one monster.

This was definitely a waste of precious mana. However, Dilan couldn't help but feel fortunate. The corner of his lips was curled upward into a crooked smile, and he sighed in relief.

"Fortunately, I could prevent using [Bearer of Pain]. I have gone through enough pain during the last two days as it is." He mumbled, fully aware that he would have to feel far more pain in the future.

Every single day without unbearable pain was a pleasure. However, at the same time, Dilan was slightly worried about feeling too much pain.

He was about to get accustomed to it, and somehow, deep within his conscience, there was also a part of his body and mind that wanted the pain.

After all, the pain made him stronger, literally...