-Vol 5: A New Life-

-The Crow’s Death-

“That bird must die…no matter what…I have to kill that fucking bird!” Kenshin gritted his teeth in anger as he downed a low-quality HP potion. His health now filled to its maximum. Opening his map, he observed the overall situation. When he saw the actual placement of the monsters, Kenshin had to take a deep breath to calm his heart. These monsters were arranged in such a way that, no matter where he walks, eventually he would be surrounded in a definite pattern.

He had already fallen victim to this formation twice without realizing it. Now that he was looking at it in a third person’s perspective, he realized the perilous situation he was, back then. No wonder he was hit twice in a row, without even achieving his goal. The damn sparrow was a trap all along. It was flying in front of him just so that he could sink deeper into the trap. Thanks to his heightened intelligence and wisdom, which was even more frightening because of Surpasser Title bonus, he was able to realize this after calmly judging the situation. If not, he would have been suffering in vain for a few more times.

There’s also another doubt in Kenshin’s heart. Out of all the monsters she summoned, the sparrow had the highest level, despite that, until now, it had only shown its healing ability. Now Kenshin was in a dilemma whether the bird really has any fighting ability or its just a pure healer. He couldn’t come to a definite conclusion. Due to his past experience, he didn’t want to assume anything and suffer later.

“Okay. Let's forget the sparrow for now. I will have to change my target…hmmm…the crow seems nice one to start with.” Kenshin made a plan. He decided to give full attention to the crow flying in the air. To break this good coordination of monsters, he had to kill one of the monsters in the least. These all were complimenting each other’s ability and weaknesses in a very trained manner. Even though he had beaten black and blue, Kenshin had to give it to her. She was a good summoner.

“Okay, the crow it is then.” Kenshin thought and slowly came out of the ground on a place closer to the crow’s current location. The ground rippled like the water in a pool when a stone was thrown into it; Kenshin poked his head out like a mole and observed the situation. As expected, the monsters were searching for him everywhere, flipping the whole dungeon with their strength. Even Lyda in the distance looked a little distressed after losing her sight of him.

“Nice!” Kenshin smiled. Now that they were unaware of his whereabouts, Kenshin determined to perform a preemptive strike at the crow which was flying at a very low altitude. Enshrouding his body in the bubble of [Opposites], he gently floated up, then using [Air step] passive and implementing the movement skill and [Highspeed Movements] at the same time, he vanished like a plume of smoke in the air. Arriving atop the crow's head, he spun around him once and hurled a flurry of attacks at the unsuspecting crow.

‘Earthen Slicer. Fire slash. Fire Wall. Destruction Slash. One Point Stab.’ As he called the names of the skills he used, he used them consecutively. Then he enveloped the bird in a bubble created from the skill [Exploding Domain] and started to ignite all the feathers and air around the crow’s body. He didn’t stop there, he continued to use skills like confusion, mana drain, Impact Touch. The huge HP of the crow, which was around 245,000, started to drop at an alarming rate. There was even instance where Kenshin had succeeded to trigger a critical strike, thereby increasing the damage.

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“KAW!!!” the crow cawed loudly, sending shockwaves around with its noise alone. All these strikes landed on it within a few seconds while it was airborne, and now it was falling to the ground while making an arc in the sky.

*BOOM!!*

The crow crashed into the ground, making a huge trench on it. As it lay flat on the hole made from its own body, Kenshin continued his barrage. The other monsters would take a few seconds to reach this place, enough time to shave a few more from its HP. All of the Kenshin’s skills were high damage ones, even so, he still had a hard time. It was not because the opponent had a huge defense, its because the monsters’ HP was just that large. Compared to humans of the same level, their HP and endurance were at least twice more.

HP: 178,000/245,000

Kenshin had shaved away 67k HP within that time. If it were that lion-driller-plant thing, it would have already died by then. But this crow was still alive and kicking, a testament to its superior physique and HP.

*Boom*Boom*

Suddenly the ground vibrated as if a huge earthquake just hit it. Kenshin knew why; it was probably the monkey was running at him with its full might. The monsters had already realized the crow's bad luck and were coming to aid it in battle. Not giving them any attention, he continued to hack at the ‘stunned’ crow, while keeping an eye at the map in front.

As he saw the nearest monster closing the distance, he started using [Burrow] again. Just as he was about to completely submerge into the ground, an idea hit him like a speeding train.

‘Wait a moment!! This crow is now in a stunned state, meaning its psychological defense had already crumbled, for now. If I can use it…let's try it.’ Kenshin grabbed into the outstretched beak of the bird and continued to submerge into the ground. Then something incomprehensive happened.

The ground continued to ripple like the surface of the water, even after Kenshin fully entered it. Along with him, the crow was also pulled into it. By the time, the lion-driller thing appeared on the spot followed by the huge monkey and the darkness humanoid, the crow had already submerged into the ground to its torso.

“Haha! It's succeeded. Yes!!” on the other hand, deep inside the ground, Kenshin rejoiced the fact that his experimentation had worked. If it was not for its stun condition, he might have not succeeded. “Haha! Now I will hack you to death.” Smiling like a serial killer, Kenshin continued to apply all the closer range skills on it. While at it, he also used the forbidden version of [Shake] and [Burrow] combination, sending destructive waves around the earth and creating super-powerful earthquakes above the ground.

1 minute later…

[Ding* You have killed Lv 142 Death Crow]

[You have received experience.]

[Ding* you have leveled up. Your current level is 94]

[You have 80 attribute points and 20 skill points. You have gained 500k golds]

[You have received an Item.]

[Guardian’s Breastplates]

Rank: C

* +60% physical DEF

* +30% magical DEF

* +30% extra EXP

* Guardian Shield Skill: +200% DEF for 5 seconds. Cooldown Time: 5 mins

* Guardian’s Howl Skill: +200% ATK for 5 seconds. Cooldown Time: 5 mins

“Yes!!” Kenshin shouted elation. It took him a minute full of nonstop barrages, and he was slowly depleting his MP bar, but finally, the damn thing had died. There was another factor which speed up the process. Due to its head being in deep underground, the bird was unable to breathe and hence choked, decreasing his fighting potential even further.

There was even a time when the crow’s HP started to rise, but Kenshin persisted. He knew it was the work of that sparrow, so he continued to throw barrages of attacks. Basically, towards the end, it was a tug of war between the sparrow and Kenshin.

Thankfully, in the end, he succeeded in killing the crow and even leveled up all the way to 94. A few more levels and he would have his first awakening. Kenshin felt excited at this prospect.