Chapter 271 268: Finishing the Skarnik

Chapter 271 268: Finishing the Skarnik

Only the sound of Val's attack cutting through the air and descending towards the Skarnik could be heard in the dense and deadly forest. Except for that, nothing could be heard in the tense environment, not even the rapid beating of the Skarnik's heart that almost burst out of its chest when Val saw through its ridiculous but on-point act and attacked it.

The Skarnik, however, was a unique type of monster that was renowned for its cunning, strength, defense, agility, and reflexes. It was an all-rounded monster that not only knew how to play dead and launch an assassination to catch his target off guard but could also respond well to sudden attacks.

As long as it had a reasonable amount of time, it could dodge almost any attack. Today, in the face of danger, it clearly exhibited this fact in action.

It was still lying motionless on the forest floor when Val had attacked, but an instant of a second later, it rolled hurriedly to the right side, narrowly dodging a deadly arc of blood that was sharper than a blade by the sheerest margin.

A smug smile immediately propped up on its insidious face as it silently gloated that it had avoided Val's deadly attack.n/)o..v-.e-/L--B--I)/n

But its feeling of triumph was short-lived.

The skarnik's smug smile, a grimace that exposed its fanged teeth, vanished almost immediately when it noticed the unflustered and calm expression of the person who stood across from it. On top of that, there was a self-assured smirk visible on his face. It was subtle, but it was as smug as the smile the monster had exposed when it dodged Val's attack.

'Why does the human still look so pleased even though I have dodged his attack?'

An unsettling dread crept up the Skarnik's spine.

It was a situation that utterly perplexed it. Here it was, having deftly evaded what should have been a lethal blow, yet Val's demeanor remained unchanged. The unwavering confidence in his posture and the gleam in his eye suggested that he was still in control, that he had already signed the death warrant for the beast's life.

Looking at his expression, dread, cold and unyielding, began to wash over the Skarnik. Its instincts, honed over years of survival in the harsh wilderness of the lesser dimension, sounded alarms in its mind, screaming at him that something was terribly amiss.

'I can't just wait here to find out his next move. But can I even run?'

In a desperate bid for survival, the Skarnik considered fleeing from Val, but Val's initial assault had left it badly injured. While it could muster a quick burst of speed in a dire situation by straining the hell out of itself and worsening its internal injuries, sustaining that pace was now out of the question due to the harm Val had already done to it.

'Damn it.'

The Skarnik felt trapped, cornered in a game where the odds seemed increasingly stacked against it.

Crack~

Suddenly, the stillness of the forest was interrupted by the ominous sound of creaking wood.

The Skarnik's heart raced as its head whipped around in alarm, instinctively turning to the source of the noise that echoed from behind it. Every muscle of its body tensed, preparing for the unknown.

Its eyes which were already wide with alertness expanded even more in sheer horror as it saw a gigantic tree beginning its swift descent towards it

with terrifying speed, its dark shadow expanding over the forest floor and engulfing the Skarnik.

The thought, 'Holy fu-' flashed across the Skarnik's mind, but it remained incomplete as the tree landed squarely on it, crushing it underneath its weight, pressing it against the forest floor, and rendering it immobile and gasping for breath.

Val's nimble form shot up from the forest floor, propelling him through the air until he deftly landed on the massive tree trunk beneath which the Skarnik was trapped.

"You misunderstood," Val spoke with a calm tone, "From the beginning, you weren't my target, the tree behind you was; and now, see where that's gotten us.

You're trapped right where I wanted you to be."

The tree was severed from its base by Val's earlier attack, meaning it was all a part of his plan to catch the cunning beast off guard. Besides, he considered this little bit of teasing an appropriate punishment for a naughty bastard who dared to fool him with its terrible acting.

The Skarnik couldn't comprehend what Val was saying as they spoke different languages, but it could guess what his next step was going to be, and that thought put it in fight or flight mode.

'It's too soon to give up. There must be a way out of this.'

Knowing that it was no match for Val, it chose to flee.

The Skarnik's eyes darted around in panic as it tried to find a way out of its current predicament, but it was pinned helplessly beneath Val's and the tree's weight.

There was no escape.

All of a sudden, its attention suddenly focused back on Val and its eyes bulged in terror as a sword, radiating a mysterious but suffocating power, materialized in his hand out of thin air.

Holding it with both hands, he raised it slightly, allowing the golden light of the sun of the lesser dimension to play upon its blade.

Then, with a swift and elegant motion, he swung the sword.

Whoosh!

It cut through the air, painting a picturesque arc before biting into the Skarnik's flesh, slicing through its thick and scale-covered neck as easily as a hot knife passing through butter.

Just like that, Val severed its head from the rest of its body, bringing a timely end to this battle.

A system notification popped up in front of him.

[You've killed a level 45 Skarnik. You obtained 3200 EXP, +1 Dragon Elixir, and +1 Nebula Pill.]

Dragon elixir? Nebula pill?

They sounded impressive but this was the first he'd ever heard of them. He didn't know what they did.