Chapter 52: Ruthless Executioner
As the beasts charged towards him, Scar still didn’t move. Not yet. He simply activated Accelerated Perception.
[-3 EP]
The world instantly plunged into stasis.
The guttural roars of the Bloodhounds distorted into a low hum before falling completely silent. The six beasts hung suspended in mid-air, entirely frozen. Scar could see the individual droplets of saliva floating from their fangs. He could see the microscopic shifts in their fur.
Scar exhaled slowly, stepping casually out of the kill box. He dashed toward the first suspended beast, summoned his dagger and, with a flick of his wrist, drew the razor-sharp edge across the creature’s exposed jugular. He didn’t even watch the blood begin to slowly bead. He pivoted, moving to the second beast, driving the blade upward into the soft cartilage beneath its jaw. Then he severed the spines of the next third and fourth beasts with flawless, surgical precision. He moved like a ghost walking through a museum of statues.
He ducked under a frozen claw, pushing the tip of his blade against the fifth beast’s chest to puncture its lungs, and finally stepped behind the pack leader. He reversed his grip and drove the dagger cleanly into the base of the beast’s skull.
Scar stepped back, sheathing his weapon, and deactivated the skill.
[Energy Points: 72/80]
Time violently snapped back into place.
The six beasts didn’t even complete their arcs before they were already dead, killed by Scar in the span of five seconds. Blood erupted in a synchronized, gruesome fountain. The entire pack hit the forest floor simultaneously, their bodies completely lifeless before they even touched the dirt.
[You have defeated 6 E-Rank Bloodhounds]
[Total Exp Gained: +300 EXP]
[Exp: 1,295/1000]
[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]
[Level 4 >> Level 5]
[+2 points have been added to all physical attributes]
[Hp: 400 >> 500]
[Stamina: 129 >> 139]
[Ep: 80 >> 100]
[You have received +5 Stat Points]
[Exp: 295/1200]
[Auto-loot Activated: 6 mana cores have added to your inventory]
Scar inhaled sharply. The warm, intoxicating rush of raw energy flooded his body. His muscles density increased, his lungs expanded, and his vision sharpened.
Scar left the area a while later and walked deeper into the hunting grounds, looking for more beasts to kill. He spent the next few hours hunting and decimating packs and groups of low ranking beasts.
In a dense marshland sector, he encountered a swarm of E-rank Scythe Mantises. Unlike the F-Rank Mantises he fought days ago, these ones were towering, with longer and sharper forelimbs, and spat highly corrosive acid.
As a volley of green acid shot toward him, Scar blurred. He moved so fast he left faint, residual trails of kinetic energy in his wake. He sidestepped the acid, watching the toxic liquid sail harmlessly past him in slow motion, sizzling as it hit a tree trunk. He materialized on the flank of the closest Mantis, drawing his pistol from his inventory.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Without breaking his stride, Scar fired three rapid shots on the run, blowing the insect’s head apart. The recoil barely registered against his upgraded strength. He ducked under a lethal scythe swipe from a second Mantis, his speed generating a localized sonic boom that staggered the creature. Then he shot forward and drove his dagger upward through the beast’s thorax, killing it in one swift slash.
He was an untouchable blur of kinetic violence.
And a few seconds later, the entire swarm of Mantes lay dead at his feet, each one killed in the most gruesome way possible.
[+250 Exp Gained]
[Exp: 545/1200]
Scar didn’t stop. He pushed deeper into the denser, more dangerous sectors of the hunting grounds. He spent the entire day carving a path of devastation through the tamed forest. He killed and killed, moving from beast to beast, his Exp bar rapidly rising, bringing him closer to another level up. He was an unstoppable, untouchable, unrelenting force of nature.
By mid-afternoon, Scar was deep in the reserve. The relentless grind had depleted a significant portion of his Stamina. He found a massive, oak tree, scaling the trunk, and settled onto a wide, sturdy branch to rest. He had arranged a perimeter of dry, brittle leaves on the ground below—his usual makeshift security system—before closing his eyes for a quick nap.
An hour later, the sharp, distinct CRUNCH of a dry leaf snapped him awake.
Scar peered over the edge of the branch, his eyes sharp. Stepping into the clearing below was a massive, solitary beast.
It was an Iron Bristle Boar. But this one was way bigger than any boar he’d ever seen. The creature was the size of a rhinoceros, its body covered in thick, metallic quills that looked like iron rebar. It snorted, digging its heavy hooves into the dirt, its eyes locking directly onto Scar’s position in the tree.
Scar activated Eye of Horus immediately, assessing the threat level of the beast.
——————
*Name: Iron Bristle Boar
*Rank: D
*Ability: Super Strength
*Hp: 5000/5000
——————
Scar’s expression turned serious. This was a D-Rank beast. One that possessed a massive health pool, and most importantly... it had a magical ability: Super Strength.
In this era, once beasts reached D-rank and above, the concentration of mana cells in their body became so dense that they often developed magical abilities, making them exponentially harder to kill than standard physical monsters.
But Scar wasn’t fazed. This beast has strength, but I have speed, he reasoned. And a creature this big and packed with muscles would be incredibly slow. This should be quick.
He dropped from the branch, landing lightly on the grass.
The Boar charged immediately, rushing towards Scar with an insane speed he definitely did not anticipate.
Scar’s eyes widened in shock. The beast wasn’t slow at all. Its Super Strength ability wasn’t just for striking; it applied to the explosive kinetic force of its legs, making it very fast. Faster than any beast he’d ever faced.
The massive Boar crossed the clearing in a fraction of a second, moving like a runaway freight train. Scar threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the initial charge. The Boar slammed headfirst into the oak tree. The impact sounded like a bomb going off, completely shattering the massive trunk and bringing the eighty-foot tree crashing down into the forest.
"Okay," Scar muttered, his adrenaline spiking. "You’re fast."
The beast pivoted with terrifying agility, and charged again.
Scar realized he couldn’t afford to get clipped. A single graze from those iron bristles at that speed would tear his limbs off. He activated Accelerated Perception, his Energy Points and Stamina draining rapidly as he engaged in a high-speed game of lethal matador.
He continuously outran the beast by a fraction of an inch, using the dense environment to his advantage. The Boar shattered rocks and obliterated trees, growing more enraged with every missed strike.
As the beast charged for the fifth time, Scar didn’t run away this time. He stood his ground. And as the massive iron tusks barreled toward his chest, Scar executed the exact technique Jane had drilled into him yesterday. He dropped low, sliding his left foot out, and used a reverse-grip on his dagger. He caught the side of the Boar’s tusk with the flat of his blade, redirecting the massive kinetic energy to spin himself perfectly past the beast’s blind spot.
As he slid past the creature’s thick neck, Scar drove the dagger violently upward, bypassing the iron bristles and sliding the blade cleanly between the cervical vertebrae, directly into the beast’s spinal cord.
He ripped the blade out as the Boar’s momentum carried it forward. The beast’s legs gave out instantly. It crashed into the dirt, skidding for thirty yards before coming to a dead halt.
Scar stood up, his chest heaving, his stamina bar blinking dangerously low. But he’d managed to kill a D-Rank beast.
[You have defeated an D-Rank Iron Bristle Boar]
[+70 Exp Gained]
[Exp: 1165/1200]
[I D-Rank Mana Core has been added to your inventory]
Before he could even process the massive experience gain, a notification erupted in his vision.
[Hidden Quest Complete: The Ruthless Executioner
*Condition: Slay 80 beasts (Completed)
*Reward: One Giftbox]
[Giftbox has been added to your Inventory]