Chapter 59: The Fire Fox

[Skill: Crimson Spears]

[Type: Rare]

[Level: 1]

[Description: A skill that allows the user to summon three powerful crimson spears with incredible piercing capabilities. The spears can be thrown at enemies from a distance, impaling them with devastating force, 30 seconds cooldown between each spear (meaning 1m30 to recover them all)]

...

'Interesting...' Stark was satisfied, after all it was always good to get more skills that were long-ranged since he always needed to be in contact with an enemy to deal damage normally.

[Experience: 12617/340000]

Stark gathered his newfound strength and continued his journey through the treacherous Valley's Forest.

The path ahead was shrouded in darkness, with twisted trees looming overhead like silent sentinels.

It had been thirty minutes since he had entered the Valley's Forest, and now most people that were inside the Secret Rift were going through the 'Mountain's Challenge' area, with only a few classifiers inside the forest.

The air grew colder as Stark ventured deeper into the heart of the Valley's Forest.

And suddenly...

He felt a chill run down his spine, and sensing danger, he stepped back.

~BOOM~

A fireball came crashing in the place he had been just moments ago.

But it wasn't a human that sent this spell, instead...

"ROOOAR~" a giant fox, at least four meters in size,appeared before him, its eyes gleaming with a fierce intelligence.

The creature's fur blazed a vibrant orange, flickering with flames as it slowly inched closer to Stark. Its deep growls echoed through the air, its eyes locked onto him as if he were its next meal.

The heat radiating from the fiery fur was intense, and Stark could feel his skin prickle with sweat.

Every step it took sent sparks flying, illuminating its sharp claws and menacing teeth. This was no ordinary animal; it was a living inferno, ready to consume anything in its path.

And of course, Stark immediately realized this couldn't be a normal monster either.

...

[Name: Fire Fox (ELITE - FOREST GUARDIAN)]

[Level: 40]

The Fire Fox unleashed a tornado of flames toward Stark, who was taken aback by the sudden attack.

All the trees around them were now burning, and he couldn't help but think that this forest would be in flames before their battle ended, who even had the idea to put a fire monster in a flammable environment?

Stark couldn't dodge the toranod since it was too big and too close to him, so he decided to focus...

He closed his eyes while sensing the heat of the attack come closer and closer...

And when it was millimeters away from him, he opened his eyes and used [Invincible Dodge] to roll forward, basically passing right through thr tornado without receiving damage.

"...?" even the fox was confused, but it quickly jumped back on its feet as the stun effect had ended.

"Aura Smash!" Stark sent two crimson fists toward it again, but the fox jumped in the air and dodged them both.

"FIREBALL! FLAME BURST!" it activated both these skills, the first to summon many fire balls to send toward Stark, and the second to enhance these attacks to make them stronger and faster.

~BOOM, BOOM, BOOM~

And suddenly, the Fire Fox began sending dozens of fire balls from its mouth.

'SHIT!' Stark summoned his [Crimson Spears] beside him and began running to avoid the balls of fire, each of them crashing against a nearby tree and making it collapse in flames.

The forest around them was rapidly turning into a blazing inferno, the heat becoming almost unbearable as the Fire Fox relentlessly pursued Stark with its fiery attacks.

~BOOM, BOOM~

The fire rate of the fire balls wasn't stopping, forcing Stark ot keep moving.

~FWISH~

He sent one of his spears toward the fox, but it just avoided it.

He knew he couldn't keep this up forever, so he decided to do something crazy: attack the fox up front, after all...

He looked down to his right hand, where the two rings he had were, and noticed that he had [The Purgatory Shadows] with him.

'OK, LET'S END THIS FIGHT,' he suddenly dashed toward the fox.

"CLONE FRENZY!" he summoned one of his clones to aid him, and both of them were now only a few meters away from the guardian, who was still sending attacks at them both.

Both him and the clone jumped in the air, looking down at the fox who was seemingly confused as to why Stark changed his approach.

And then, the original one dived at the Fire Fox, actually ready to fight it from close range.

"Claw Swipe!" but the guardian wouldn't sit there and take it, so of course it raised its claws, ready to cut Stark in half.

And so... the two powerful beings clashed.