Chapter 216 - Slayer(2/2)

The area was quite large. So even though what seemed to be a city was located in the centre, there were still several meters that separated Ethan from the walls, and there was no vegetation here. It was as if death itself had passed through these grounds, making the space surrounding him such an inhospitable place, but that wasn't all. He almost felt as if his forces were being s.u.c.k.e.d away, but after a few seconds this feeling strangely vanished.

He didn't have much time to think about the surroundings, as after a few seconds, the other monsters that still had to leave the ground didn't waste time trying surprise attacks, but Ethan easily managed to avoid them all.

If Ethan had not obtained the ability to feel the presence of monsters from distance based on auras, he probably wouldn't have been able to easily evade the attacks, and even at this precise moment he had yet to master this ability.

He was surrounded, but it was only to his advantage at the end, so Ethan decided to be the first to launch an attack.

Directed against the first monster, Ethan used his [Air Variant] as Riveria had dubbed it, to inflict a direct and precise blow, since it was more effective against the skeletons than the wind.

Needless to say, the monster, receiving the attack, collapsed to the ground having failed to anticipate the attack, but one thing that Ethan found strange, the others didn't immediately try to get close, but carefully watched the results of his attack, almost as if they were studying it to find a new course of action.

But he wouldn't have stood by and watched. In no time at all, he found himself behind one of the monsters and, using [Heavy Blow] aiming at the weak point that in this case was the skull, Ethan saw the monster's body being wiped out by the attack. Although their claws were dangerous, as long as he didn't get hit, Ethan realized they weren't that different from normal skeletons.

The monsters retreated this time, but decided not to attack, again observing what their opponent was capable of, which was making Ethan angry. If the monsters were the least intelligent, they would certainly be visibly shaken that he was brutally killing their comrades, but they were evidently sacrificing them, or at least that was what he believed.

Ethan did not stop though. Using a combination of [Heavy Blow] and [Instantaneous Movement] he was able to approach a monster, but that didn't mean he could do it incessantly. Increasing speed to those levels was something that Ethan couldn't afford to use for too long, until he could get a skill for instantaneous movement, that was his limit.

But, thanks to [Sprint] however, his speed was still considerable, although he couldn't move instantaneously from one point to another, Ethan could approach the other monsters very quickly.

Shattering the skull of the third monster in a row, Ethan sighed knowing there were about six other monsters in front of him, but as long as they couldn't react to his blows, [Sprint] and [Heavy Blow] were enough to kill them all.

But to his surprise, Ethan noticed that the fourth monster was able to dodge his attack and almost use his claws, but before he could, he found himself forced to use his legs with the [Boost Magic] and just a simple kick to the c.h.e.s.t was enough to disintegrate it.

'..What happened?'

He was convinced that the monsters were unable to react to his blows, but instead this monster was strangely able to dodge, although its individual strength didn't seem to be in any way superior to that of the other monsters.

Unable to explain what was happening, Ethan's earlier calm expression became serious again. He hadn't understood what was happening but, just to dispel his assumptions, Ethan approached the fifth monster using [Heavy Blow] and [Sprint], but just as he thought, the monster was able to evade his blow. Even though these monsters were bipedal, they seemed to be figuring out how to defend themselves from his attacks as the fighting progressed, as if the very experience of being killed had been passed on to the monster in proximity, so that expecting that kind of blow, could escape and respond.

Even the aftermath seemed to be different. Instead of trying to attack immediately, the monster retreated carefully, expecting Ethan's kick.

'...These monsters are a big deal.'

Weak, but the more he killed them the more experience they take on, becoming gradually more difficult to deal with. This meant that if these monsters surrounded him again, Ethan would have to try not to make the same attack twice, and fortunately [Boost Magic] could be used in many ways.

'A normal person wouldn't survive against these monsters...'

It was the conclusion he had reached. Gulping, Ethan chose to continue his slaughter, but didn't know that he was actually very lucky. The ability of these monsters to adapt was very high, so if Ethan was now trying to follow a certain combat style, he would definitely have difficulty using the other techniques, but he didn't yet have a precise style, so his attacks were just the result of his training with Tiona. His attacks were totally different from each other, making the monsters unable to learn as quickly as they would've had otherwise.

What Ethan didn't figure out was that the effect of [Reckless] became weaker and weaker as he killed the monsters, so not only were they slowly learning to fend off his attacks, but he was growing weaker as the effect of his skill was diminishing and the monsters were becoming stronger.

Only one monster left, the effect of [Reckless] vanished completely. Ethan, however, wasn't intimidated by this in the slightest. At this moment, in front of him was a monster who had assimilated all the knowledge gathered by his companions on the opponent, so the latter also knew how he would approach, how he would attack, and how he would dodge. That's why the monster finally decided to show his abilities.

This was the attack line of these monsters. Surrounding an enemy, gathering as much information as possible, and once the information was enough, then the counterattack started, with the opponent at a disadvantage since he was not aware of its abilities, while for these monsters the latter would be nothing more than an open book.

Approaching the monster, Ethan decided to try to use the wind, as he hadn't yet used it, but he was surprised to notice that the monster immediately ran towards him without emitting any sound, pointing his claws toward his body.

During his first use of [Air Variant] the monster realized that to use his magic, Ethan needed a few seconds of time, and this was the weakness it would use to launch a surprise attack, But it wasn't aware yet that Ethan wasn't a regular magician.

Dodging its claws, Ethan used his leg again with the [Boost Magic] avoiding using the wind due to its proximity to the monster, but to his surprise, The monster managed to avoid the blow in mid-air, rolling on himself and at the same time managing to inflict a blow on Ethan, who not expecting to be hit, hadn't used his [Boost Magic] in time.

The cut wasn't superficial, but it was enough to make him bleed. A monster that didn't seem to be particularly strong possessed this atrocious level of agility and dexterity, something he didn't expect, and probably even the monster had guessed the same thing.

He could see how the black aura around the monster became many times denser. There was no doubt, this monster was hiding in the pack, pretending to have such a level of power. It probably realized that he was able to detect the auras when their surprise attack hadn't worked.

'Intelligence? No...this is much more than just intelligence. This level of atrocious adaptation, but especially the way it uses its powers wisely, this monster is different from the others.'

It could only be a particular monster, and this was barely the first floor. Ethan had no idea what was going to wait for him on the 5th floor, but now he was sure about one thing. He had to get stronger before he could complete this floor.

He decided to use his powers to the fullest extent possible. Increasing his speed again, Ethan used [Instantaneous Movement] to find himself within a few steps to the monster and, pulling a powerful punch infused with both [Heavy Blow] and [Boost Magic] Ethan was sure that he would be able to defeat it, but to his surprise, the monster's skeleton didn't shatter, it was only pushed away by the impetus of the unexpected attack.

Immediately backing away, Ethan saw that the monster was preparing to counterattack, and was sure he had dodged the blow, but felt as if he hadn't done it at all, in fact the claws grazed his face, and after he uttered an "...How?" he felt blood flowing down his right cheek.

'I was sure I dodged that attack.'

He had dodged it. At least that's what he thought, but the blood that was coming down his cheek was proof that he was actually cut by the monster's claw. It was just amazing for him. Not even the Minotaur he had met in the 17th floor was comparable to the monster he had in front of him, that Minotaur was the fruit of sheer power and bloodl.u.s.t, instead this monster was the result of a deep intelligence and familiarity to combat in itself. Ethan realized that this monster was superior to him, but before he could think of anything else, he remembered his new title. Although it was useless in combat, he still wanted to try and use it.

As soon as used, the monster that hadn't shown any change in his expression until now momentarily gained Ethan's power to see the auras, and so seeing the boy's aura, it was visibly shocked. The monster was familiar with the auras of his master, but he had never seen an aura so large, it was so large that it covered about 10 meters in diameter, and if only Ethan knew how to use all this energy, The monster would have been disintegrated without even knowing what killed itself, but the fact he didn't know how to use spiritual energy was something that obviously the monster couldn't know.

Ethan was expecting some kind of reaction, but he never imagined that the monster, after being surprised for a moment, sat down bowing its head without adding anything else. Before he could even ask himself what was happening though, the answer came directly from the system.

[[Nameless] surrenders. Do you want to take [Nameless] as your subordinate?]

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(Alternate Titles: "Bowing down to the stronger is only natural. Since Ethan's aura is technically stronger than the monster's master.", "I mean, that was unexpected--", "Now think about what ability would Ethan learn from it? it's not hard to guess.")