The main problem was that he had so many things to do, and so many powerful enemies to defeat, that the relatively rapid pace that he was leveling at was not enough for him. He knew that he was progressing faster than almost anybody in the Multiverse at this rate, but it was just unfair that he had to deal with enemies like Hugo Mar who were so much stronger than he was. The other man had it far easier in terms of leveling, as he could simply have his soldiers deliver essence to him in order to facilitate his leveling speed. However, the man himself was clearly no joke either, and despite his easy path to power, he possessed real strength, strength that Sam envied.
As he contemplated what his standing was on the planet, Sam started to hear a strange chittering noise coming from a nearby tree. Pausing, he slunk up towards the tree, trying to stay as silent as he could, so as not to spook whatever monster was waiting there. Sam reached the base of the tree a moment later, and heard the chittering noise again.
Faint shadows leaped across the divide between that tree and the next, and Sam briefly caught the outline of a simian form. It was some sort of monkey, that was for sure, but as to what strength it possessed, Sam did not know. He sent his aura surging outwards, and heard a loud hiss from the trees around him. As his aura swept outwards like a red tide, the hissing noise grew louder.
About a dozen monkeys dropped out of the nearby trees, all of them grimacing at him. They were quite muscular specimens, and clearly were quite powerful as well. All of them gave off the auras of F Rankers, albeit ones that were at the very bottom of the spectrum. Sam hefted his mace, and prepared to fight.
The monkeys hooted and charged him, banging on their chests with their long arms. Sam sidestepped a punch and drove his elbow into a monkey’s head with the satisfying sound of breaking bone. The monster howled in pain and scrambled backwards, clutching a bloodied skull. It bared its teeth at Sam and leaped, trying to bite him. He swatted it out of the air with his mace, breaking bones and pulping flesh with his strike. The other monkeys battered his armor, but none of them were able to get past its implacable defense.
Half of the monkeys jumped on top of him, trying to bury him beneath their weight. Sam was barely affected however, and he kept on moving, barely feeling the pitiful pressure coming from the monsters. He was too strong for them to keep him down, and as he moved, he expelled his aura out at full blast, keeping it concentrated around his skin.
The monkeys fell off, dazed, and he tore into the nearest few with his mace. The monsters howled as he broke their bones and battered them into submission, and a few of the smarter ones turned tail and ran. Sam did not bother chasing them, knowing that monsters this weak would be unable to give him any quality essence. However he could use the corpses as bait.
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He quickly dealt with the last few, feeling a meager amount of essence enter him upon slaying the last one, and moved on, leaving the corpses in the shadow of the tree. He climbed up the nearest tree, and masked his presence, withdrawing his aura.
Waiting there for some time, he was eventually rewarded for his patience when he heard a crackling noise in the undergrowth. A few minutes later, a large reptilian creature, with a host of legs, appeared. It was a herpetopede, but compared to Rax, it seemed like a poor cousin of the powerful beast. Still it was quite large, although most of that size had been devoted to length rather than overall weight like with Rax.
The monster sniffed around the corpses for a moment, and then began to eat, its powerful jaws crushing bones with ease. Sam waited until it was directly underneath him, before dropping down like a meteor, his mace held high over his head. The monster looked up at him a moment later and then flashed forwards, showing speed that Sam hadn't been expecting.
He caught the end of its tail with his mace however, smashing the fleshy appendage into a pile of gore. The monster howled in pain and whipped around, slamming its jaws into Sam’s side. The attack sent him stumbling backwards a few paces, a bruise forming on his left arm. The monster actually wielded quite impressive strength, and Sma knew that it would provide more essence than those monkeys had.
With blood pouring out of its shortened tail, the monster snapped at Sam, a strange glow forming around its mouth as it did so. The monster suddenly projected a ghostly set of jaws forwards, catching Sam’s legs. He recoiled, but the monster held on tightly, and began to squeeze. Whatever ability it was using, it packed no inconsiderable force, and Sam’s leg began to burn from the pain.
Sam reached down, and forced his Dao energy into the attack, dispelling it by sheer brute force. His red energy coursed across his hands as he did so, and the herpetopede took a step backwards. Sam roared and poured his power into his mace, causing it to light up like a beacon of power.
He flashed forwards, his feet barely touching the ground, before slamming his mace into the herpetopede’s shoulder. He had been aiming for its head, but the beast had been too slippery for him to catch. The monster roared and leaped forwards, flying through the air towards Sam’s face.
He stepped to the side, and lashed out with his hand, swatting the monster out of the air. His mace came up and over his head a moment later, and he brought it down on the monster with a grunt. The creature howled in pain as Sam crushed its right leg, and as it tried to rise, he slammed his mace into its back, breaking its spine. A moment later, his mace was planted in the middle of the monster’s head, killing it in an explosion of blood. Essence entered him, but not anywhere near enough to level up. Sighing, Sam moved on, towards greener pastures. Or rather, bloodier ones.