Half an hour later, the caravan was far behind, and he was heading out into the seemingly endless expanse of ash that made up this circle of the Infinite Hells. He was yet to find another city, but he decided to follow the route that the caravan had been going. There had been little to no deviation in its trajectory for the duration of his short trip within the carriage, meaning that it was likely heading on a direct course to destination.

Using his enhanced perception, he made sure that he was on the right course. A pack of Ash Prowlers came near him, but upon seeing him, they fled, knowing that he was far too strong for them to defeat. He was starting to exude an aura of power and danger around himself, one that would prove invaluable. Using the basic monsters to level up was useless now, and there was no reason for him to do anything other than ignore them. Seeing as they would ignore him now, it all worked out perfectly.

A strange, fleshy shape jutted out of the ash in front of him, and he paused, reaching down to grab it. It was a hand, and it was still attached to a body. Pulling it out of the ash, he recognized the body. It was Danny, and the tiny doll lay on the ash next to him. The man had been savagely torn into by some monster with gargantuan claws, and his bottom half was barely holding on. Whatever had done this had done it for sport rather than necessity, seeing as none of his flesh was missing. Jonathan dropped the corpse and sighed. He really had no choice other than to investigate this, if only for the reason that whatever had done this was likely a match for him. As he thought this, a notification surfaced.

You have gained a new quest!

Reluctant Vengeance:B

The slaves that you freed are being picked off by a mysterious beast that you suspect is powerful enough to be a challenge for you. Follow the trail of corpses and find your target.

Reward:???

The reward for the quest was simply a line of question marks, but seeing as he had been intending to follow that course of action anyway, he would settle for it.

As he walked, he found more and more bodies, all having died in the same way. The bodies slowly grew warmer over time, and Jonathan quickly realized that the monsters had transported them, almost like a trail. There was no way that the slaves could have gotten in front of him without him noticing. He quickly came to the end of the trail, where a massive pile of bodies waited. As he approached, the ground rumbled, his only warning of what was to come. He leaped backwards, and a monster emerged from the ash beneath where he had been standing, almost catching him in its massive jaws. It looked like a lion, albeit one that was three times larger than its earthly counterpart. It had foot long claws, and its mouth bristled with razor sharp teeth. It roared at Jonathan, and charged. He dodged and analyzed the monster, finding that it was exactly what he had been looking for.

Leonid Ash Reaver(Elite)

Level 34

In fact, judging by its bulk, perhaps he had bitten off a little bit more than he could chew. It was the largest monster that he had directly fought, as the titanic reptilian beast did not count, and he had to admit that it was more than a little bit intimidating. Jonathan summoned his mana drills to his hands, the light of the skill faintly illuminating his arms. Jonathan snapped his hands forward, raking across the monster’s side and back. He carved furrows into its fur, but the attack did not do much to the skin underneath, which felt as hard as stone.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Jonathan condensed the balls even further and added as much power as he could, this time managing to cut into the flesh.The Reaver roared, the noise deafening in such close proximity. Jonathan cringed, his ears bleeding, but he powered through the pain. By the time that the monster had finally passed him, its side was bleeding heavily. However, it seemed mostly uninjured, and it whirled around, activating some sort of ability.

Two jets of flame formed on its hind legs, and it leapt forward, moving faster than Jonathan could dodge. He bent forward, and felt the beast pass over him. Its claws raked across his scalp, drawing blood. He thrust his hand up, and sent a burst of condensed mana into the beast’s soft underbelly, drawing blood. A moment later, his hand made contact with something soft and squishy, and he cringed.

The beat yowled with a high pitched cadence as the mana ball carved into its prized possessions. At least Jonathan knew that it was male now. He emerged from the other side, covered in blood, some of it his own, and some from the lion. He turned around, and saw that the beast was coming straight for him, utterly enraged. Its face was creased in rage, and it howled its displeasure, sending a cone of force towards Jonathan, ruffling his hair.

He rolled to the side, but the monster slashed out with its forepaw, carving a line down his side. Jonathan screamed in agony, and continued his roll, pushing off the paw behind him. The fight had barely begun, and he was already seriously injured. Jonathan shook his head to clear the fog in it from his injuries. The pain was mostly manageable, seeing as he was far more resilient than any normal human being. That applied to his pain resistance as well. It would be pointless to have the durability of a piece of stone, but still feel every bump and scrape, even if it did not affect you. Instead, he was left with an all too welcome numbing of his senses while in battle. Otherwise some of the pain that he would have to deal with would be crippling.

Jonathan summoned the mana back to his hands, and prepared to re engage in battle. As the Leonid Reaver approached, it began to build up something in the back of its throat, something that was redolent of mana to Jonathan’s senses. Now was as good a time as any to test his new Epic ranked skill. Sending a tendril of disruptive mana towards the growing skill, he tried to destabilize it. Jonathan sent as much of his mana as he could into the skill, empowering it beyond its limits. The tendril of mana became visible as he worked, and soon the Leonid noticed that something was wrong. Jonathan sensed the build up of mana begin to decrease, but he would not let the monster get away with that. Instead, he pulsed his own mana along the length of the tendril, compressing it to increase its power. The expertise that he had gained with his mana drills came in handy here.

With a whoomp, the skill exploded, scorching the inside of the monster’s mouth. Because it had been successful in removing some of the mana, the backlash was not as intense, but it still was quite severe. The monster’s tongue was scorched to a cinder, and it bellowed in pain, before setting its rage-filled eyes on Jonathan. It growled softly, and exploded into motion, red light burgeoning around its form. It was using some sort of skill that charged too quickly for Jonathan to disrupt.

It was upon him in an instant, its claws ready to eviscerate him in the blink of an eye. He barely got his hands in front of himself in time, and the claws skittered against his gauntlets. His fingers broke at the contact, but he managed to prevent any further injury. The monster swiped again, and this time it moved slowly enough for Jonathan to duck under the blow.

He clenched his fists, ignoring the pain of his broken bones, and punched upwards into the monster’s chin. Using all of his strength, which at this point was far past human, he lifted the monster off the ground, and sent it rearing back on its hind legs. Cocking back his fist, Jonathan punched with everything he had, straight into its stomach.

The punch landed like a low yield bomb, blasting away flesh and bone around the impact site. Before the monster could recover, Jonathan thrust his other hand into the wound, and triggered his mana drill skill. Flesh and blood vanished before the hungry touch of the energy, and the monster let out a shriek of pure pain. Jonathan quickly withdrew his hand, and leaped backwards as the monster came crashing down, trying to crush him beneath its bulk. Bloody froth foamed at the edge of its mouth, and it seemed to be weakening. Still, Jonathan was in quite bad shape as well, and he didn't know how much longer he could fight for.