Chapter 838 - Lightning Mountain

"Ha… Ha…" Theo panted while looking back, finding multiple monsters that chased after him.

His body might not be covered in wounds, but he certainly felt a bit tired from the constant attack of the monsters.

No matter how hard he tried to hide from them, the monsters found him. He had even scouted the area around and tried to avoid them. Yet, they discovered him in one way or another.

Luckily, only ten percent of the encounters would lead to a fight. Or he would have died on the second day.

There were four monsters that were chasing him. Two of them were running on four feet while the other two were jumping around the tree.

The monsters didn't have any fur, making them look different from most monsters he had encountered.

But their sensitivity to Magic Power seemed to have increased due to that smooth skin.

This was the reason why Theo had been fighting so many monsters on the second day and wanted to find a place where he could rest to recover his Magic Power and stamina.

While going through the woods, Theo set up two big Magic Bullets behind the trees and attached them with a string so that the monsters would trip and get destroyed by the blast.

But when they almost reached the hidden trap, they all leaped at the same time, avoiding the string made of Magic Power.

Since Theo had fought them for a while, he already knew this wasn't going to work. So, he set up another trick.

When they jumped into the air, multiple Magic Bullets rained them down, pinning the monsters to the ground.

The first monster raised its hand and formed a translucent shield on top of their heads, but Theo skillfully twisted the Magic Bullets' paths to loop around the shield and struck them.

The two monsters that ran with four feet protected the other two monsters with their bodies.

However, two of the Magic Bullets actually followed a different path. Instead of going for the monsters, they pierced the hidden traps and exploded.

Boom.

The explosions knocked the monsters away as Theo used his Blink to appear behind them.

He struck one of the monsters with a sword covered by Magic Power Expansion and burst its body. Then, he used his Magic Augmentation to agitate the Magic Power in his body.

With this Magic Power, he summoned his Death Avatar.

The huge Death Avatar raised both hands and slapped the monsters, pinning them down on the ground.

Taking this chance, Theo severed their heads with a sword, finally killing all four of them.

After that, he dropped to his knees and started panting. "Ha… Ha… This is hard. It's been three days since I started my journey. And I need to expend so much Magic Power in the last few hours. They truly don't let me recover."

Theo gritted his teeth and looked forward. "Still, I can't give up. I haven't met any King Class Monsters, so hopefully, I won't be meeting them any time soon."

Theo took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart down. Before continuing, he sat down, deciding to rest in this place.

But after five minutes of silence, he heard a sound coming toward him.

*Roar!*

The roar was so loud that it alarmed him along with the monsters in his surroundings.

"Again?" Theo gritted his teeth and rose from the ground, continuing his journey.

He kept using his Awareness to avoid all these monsters, but he was truly surrounded. He took the path where he needed to fight only two monsters to break through them.

This kind of situation continued for another five hours until Theo left the forest and entered a valley.

It seemed the forest had so many monsters whose sensitivity was above the rest since Theo managed to get around three hours to rest in this valley.

He spent that time recovering his stamina and Magic Power before leaving the area with his ant form again due to several monsters finding him.

After another day, Theo finally arrived at his destination, the mountain where he could meet the Lightning Authority.

On the bottom of the mountain was a vast plain with nothing but short grass. There was no monster lurking around, making this rocky mountain scarier.

After all, the cloud around the mountain was black, and thunder kept reverberating in his ears. The bluish-white light flashed every few seconds.

Seeing the peak was beyond the cloud, Theo could feel an intense, eerie feeling creeping inside his heart.

"What is this mountain…" Theo gulped down, looking at this rocky mountain. With just a single glance, Theo could see the only way to climb this mountain was to leap from one rock to another or fly.

He didn't know why, but he felt the lightning strike forth when he climbed the mountain.

"Even though the thunder keeps shaking this area, no lightning comes down from the cloud. I feel like the one who creates this thunderstorm is him… and this is the challenge that the Mountain King mentioned… Severe thunderstorm, huh." Theo muttered in a low voice while preparing his heart.

But when his heart was about to calm down, it skipped a beat when he heard a man's voice from behind.

"That's right. If you want to meet with his excellency, the only way is to complete the seven challenges."

"Who?!" Theo turned around and widened his eyes, finding a human figure.

But unlike the human, this person had sharp-pointed eyes and big ears. He wore a plain white shirt and ripped jeans.

His pinkish skin excluded a faint green aura.

Theo gulped down and looked at this person, asking, "Who are you? Do you know the Mountain King?"

"Of course. I'm the Guardian of this Lightning Mountain. Since you're seeking his excellency's guidance, I need to come and give you some information on how to do it." The man smiled. "Still, to think a human can gain recognition from three Kings… Even I'm surprised."

"You are not going to kill me?" Theo furrowed his eyebrows.

"No." He looked at his clothes. "Normally, I would kill every human that comes close to this place, but you're different from them since the Mountain King sends you here."

"He has promised to teach me about Orders…" Theo said carefully.

"I understand. In that case, let's change places, shall we? I will show you the entrance.." He smiled.