Fierce Battle

The Batta Bear struck first!

Its sharp claws gleamed with crimson light particles.

Those furious eyes locked onto me.

In the next instant, its arm swung with force.

The crimson particles transformed into five blazing blades of light hurtling straight toward me.

The air tore apart.

The sound hadn’t even erupted yet—the blades were already right in front of my face.

In my previous life, if someone had asked whether a person could truly dodge a bullet point-blank from the front, I would’ve thought they were insane.

Now?

I no longer think that way.

With sharp enough dynamic vision and explosive enough physical power, forget close-range bullets—even lasers, I’d dodge them and show off.

The light blades were only five centimeters from carving into my body.

Unfortunately for them, that five-centimeter gap would never close.

The moment it committed to the attack, I had already begun evading.

So this strike was dodged with ridiculous ease.

Not a scratch.

“Take this!”

After using the skill, the Batta Bear’s body stiffened slightly—obvious recovery lag.

Such a perfect opening—I wasn’t about to waste it.

I slid forward, drove the Shadow Spear straight into its body.

Blood sprayed instantly.

Regrettably, the thrust was too shallow!

The spearhead barely sank halfway into the flesh.

This thing’s body was ridiculously tough.

“ROOOAR!!”

The Batta Bear bellowed.

It clamped its massive paw around the Shadow Spear, yanked it out with a violent twist, and flung it—and me—away.

What insane strength!

My body couldn’t stabilize mid-air.

If I crashed into a tree like this, even if the injury wasn’t severe, there was still a chance of losing consciousness.

Even a mere 10% chance of stun would be fatal for me right now.

I had to prevent that at all costs.

I poured every ounce of strength into slamming the Shadow Spear into the ground.

The residual force still dragged me backward relentlessly.

The spear gouged a long, thin trench through the dirt.

Finally, I managed to bleed off the momentum.

I dropped to one knee.

My hands gripping the spear trembled violently.

Numbness pulsed through my palms in waves.

Suddenly the light dimmed overhead.

I looked up—and nearly had my soul scared out of me.

High in the air, an enormous bear butt was plummeting straight toward my head at terrifying speed!

Not only was its strength monstrous—its speed was absurd too.

From flinging me away to launching the second attack—barely three seconds.

I barely managed two desperate rolls to escape.

The Batta Bear crashed down like a meteor.

BOOM!

The ground shattered.

Shards of rock flew everywhere.

The violent tremor threw off my balance.

My brain spun dizzily.

Damn it—this attack inflicts stun!

“ROAR!”

The Batta Bear stood back up.

This time it didn’t use claw blades.

It stepped forward with its left foot, body leaning low, arms spread wide.

Then it launched itself at me like a cannonball.

Using stun to set up a high-speed follow-up kill—this beast’s combat intelligence was frighteningly high.

That earlier stab hadn’t hurt it much—instead, it had cornered me.

This wasn’t funny anymore!

Its claws aimed straight for my head.

The gale from those talons sliced across my neck faster than the claws themselves.

In less than a second, my head would be separated from my body forever.

Not happening!

At the very last moment, I forcibly shook off the stun effect.

Then, with excruciating effort, I twisted aside to avoid the claws.

No—correction—I didn’t fully avoid them.

A sharp sting exploded across my right arm.

I was hit.

The beast’s ferocious assault finally began to slow.

This time I didn’t counterattack.

My status window showed my HP had dropped by ten points from that single hit.

Only twenty HP remaining.

“Damn it—how am I supposed to survive this?!”

Two more hits like that and I’d be dead.

This monster’s power far exceeded expectations.

From here on, I had to stay at maximum alertness.

Thud!

The ten-kilogram meteorite sword dropped.

It sank deep into the soft earth.

In the end, I had to abandon my life-saving weapon.

If I kept it, I couldn’t reach my absolute speed limit.

After weighing the options, I chose to go all-in.

“Round two. Begin.”

I flicked my right hand.

Wherever the Shadow Spear swept, green grass flew.

I took one step.

All my power erupted.

In the blink of an eye, I was right in front of the Batta Bear.

A barrage of thrusts—several in succession.

The Shadow Spear, faster than bullets, pierced its body repeatedly.

Blood sprayed in all directions.

Before it could react, I flashed backward the instant my combo ended—out of its attack range.

“ROOOARRR!!”

The Batta Bear let out a wretched roar.

Its eyes turned blood-red.

It seemed completely dominated by rage—almost deranged.

This round dealt five points of damage.

It had forty-five HP left.

The output was better than I’d anticipated.

“Not good!”

The beast’s aura grew even more ferocious as its rage intensified.

Against this berserk Batta Bear, there was only one choice left.

Run!

I bolted.

In an instant I plunged into the forest.

The Batta Bear gave chase.

Generally speaking, complex forest terrain was extremely disadvantageous for speed-based warriors.

But that only applied to ordinary warriors.

This Shadow Demon King body was far closer to an assassin class—extremely high agility.

For me, the forest was the perfect battlefield.

The more tangled and chaotic the environment, the more my strength could shine.

“ROOOARRR!!”

Having lost sight of me, the Batta Bear grew even more furious.

It swung wildly in every direction, trying to topple trees and force me into the open.

Yet the massive trunks didn’t fall under its rampage.

Only horrifying claw marks were left behind.

These trees were far tougher than they looked.

Whoosh!

A black shadow streaked from behind the bear.

It was about to connect—

But the quick-reacting Batta Bear rolled aside at the last second.

“Idiot.”

A beast is still a beast.

Its intelligence could never compare to a cunning human.

The black shadow that missed and stabbed into the ground revealed its true form—just an ordinary tree branch.

At the same moment, another black shadow shot out at high speed.

Target: the Batta Bear, still off-balance from its roll.

“ROAR!”

No way to dodge.

The sharp strike pierced straight into the thick muscle of its left thigh.

And it didn’t stop there—the Shadow Spear drove all the way through.

Its left leg was completely crippled.

For this maimed creature, the real suffering was only just beginning.

I condensed another Shadow Spear.

My mana still had enough for three more.

That last hit had shaved off ten HP.

Thirty-five HP remaining.

Barring accidents, four more Shadow Spears would finish this Batta Bear for good.

“Then let me return the favor properly.”

I smiled.

Right now, an indescribable pleasure surged through me.

Every drop of blood in my body seemed to be singing with delight.

“ROOOARRR!!”

The next Shadow Spear struck its right leg with pinpoint accuracy.

Its agonized scream stimulated something vicious inside me.

Haa… haa… so satisfying!

Scream! Keep screaming! Scream all you want! Hahahahahahahaha!

This rush flooding my veins, this soaring high—amazing!

I lost myself in that strange euphoria.

Only when my mana finally hit zero, and all that remained on the ground was a blood-soaked corpse, did I snap back to reality.

That feeling just now… it reminded me of the invincible state I had right after reincarnation—when I possessed endless mana.

The Shadow Demon King’s true power.

“Haa…”

I exhaled deeply.

My body felt abnormally exhausted.

Stamina seemed almost depleted.

The fight outside should be over by now, right?

I dragged my somewhat heavy steps out of the forest.

The scene that greeted me left me utterly speechless.

“You guys… just how useless are you?!”