Tick!
It was a faint sound, the sharp snap of a brittle twig under a soft paw, but the all-cautious William managed to detect it instantly.
He had already walked through the deeper parts of the forest for half a day, the canopy above thick enough to swallow the light of the stars. Encountering many monsters that were mostly bronze grade and a few silver grade made his guard always raised, his senses honed to a razor's edge.
But despite the targets presented to him, he didn't try to kill any monster yet. He wanted to first locate the specific one he needed—the elemental foundation for his spirit.
Even if he couldn't kill it immediately, he would assess its strength and abilities and then retreat fast before getting killed. This wasn't the outer forest where he could simply harvest thousands of monkeys; here, one wrong move meant being erased from existence.
He didn't have it all nice at all. The journey had been a gruelling trial of nerves. He had to run for his life a few times when he strayed too close to a territorial bronze-grade beast, and he was this close from using his weapons a couple of times already. The urge to fire an arrow was strong, but his rationality held his finger back.
He didn't dare to start a fight as he feared the sound of battle and the metallic smell of blood would attract more monsters from the dark thickets. He didn't want monsters to flood his path or hem him in; or else he'd end up dying no matter how he tried to resist.
Not to mention, he didn't know the terrain here. In this labyrinth of ancient roots and shifting shadows, if things went wrong, he'd not be able to run away in time. He might even run into more monsters while trying to escape a previous encounter.
In brief, he decided to evade all monsters until he'd face something he'd be forced to fight, or he'd finally find his target.
As he heard that subtle sound, he ducked on the ground and protected himself by the long weeds around like he used to do every time he met a monster.
Darkness already prevailed in the world, the forest floor a sea of ink, but this didn't stop William. He was a master of using his ears to locate a monster and get more information about it when sight failed.
'From the pattern of its moves, it must be an agility-based monster,' he assessed. He tracked the monster by the places it emitted sound from—a rustle to the left, a light thud to the rear-right.
The monster seemed to notice William, as it was moving in a wide circle surrounding him, tightening its orbit with every pass. 'Trying to get me when I'm unprepared? A cunning monster indeed.'
Monsters in the bronze grade held a low level of intelligence, acting mostly on refined instinct. But it was enough for them to gauge their targets and wait for a moment of weakness. They might not be this easy to kill thanks to their high alert and ability to assess the strength of their foes.
But this monster felt different. It showed the intelligence of silver-grade monsters. If he weren't still relatively near the outer zone of the forest, William might mistake it for being an even higher-grade monster.
'Will it be the one I'm looking for?' Thinking about that raised the level of excitement in his heart, though he kept his breathing shallow and silent.
William had met silver monsters before in the last few hours, but they were all earth or poison-based—totally unsuitable for the lightning or light foundation he craved. And he had ended up disappointed many times already.
As he waited, the sounds kept getting closer. 'Being impatient already? That's a normal thing for such a silver-grade monster like you,' he inwardly sneered while tightening the bow in his hand.
The bow was a totally curved one, made out of red wood and supported with a few thin plates of light ores that hummed faintly with spirit power. William closed his eyes and focused entirely, listening attentively to that monster's moves. He needed to synchronise his heartbeat with the rhythm of the forest.
He would never underestimate a bronze-grade monster, not to mention a silver one like this dude here. If he couldn't escape at the right moment, he'd use his arrows to buy himself time before finding a way out.
He was particularly worried about the agility of this monster. Speed-blessed monsters were this hard to shake off, and he was lucky not to have met something like that until this moment.
In time, the monster got closer to him. He already figured out its moving pattern. It was jumping from one spot to another ten metres away, always in curves and not straight lines, using the trunks of the massive trees to mask its approach. It was a predator that understood geometry and blind spots.
The monster seemed to have feathers that emitted subtle noises while moving. William knew a lot of monsters like this, so he needed to first see his target before deciding its kind.
In the darkness of the deep woods, sound was his primary guide, and the soft rustle of those plumes suggested a creature that was a master of the air and the earth alike.
Without the need to say, he knew he couldn't run away this time without a fight. From the speed that monster showed, William knew he'd be outrun if he depended solely on his legs to run away.
His human frame, even bolstered by his recent spirit power gains, was no match for a predator born for the sprint. If he turned his back now, he would be giving the beast a clear shot at his throat.
The monster was this fast, and it was just trying to surround him. If a battle erupted, then that monster would show a higher level of speed, pushing its agility to the absolute limit.
William started to ready himself for this battle. He was fortunate enough to evade fighting for half a day already. But his luck seemed to run thin at this moment.
He hoped it'd be one of the two types of monsters he was looking for. Even if he ended up killing it and it wasn't suitable, he would just absorb its core and raise his spirit power.
It wouldn't be a total loss, though the risk of a messy fight remained a heavy burden. As for the smell of blood, he'd have to run away fast enough after the kill and pray the battle here wouldn't attract many other monsters to the scent of gore.
"Got you!"
Once the monster became closer than fifty metres, William didn't wait any longer. His bow could release arrows for a hundred metres distance at least. So, he still had a buffer zone to hit that monster before it could close the gap for a melee strike.
Fwoosh!
Just as he released his arrow, he stood up, opened his eyes wide, and a candle of light was thrown the next moment to illuminate the clearing.
The arrow travelled fast, a silver-red blur in the darkness, and it seemed to startle the monster as it didn't expect its prey to fight back with such sudden and calculated aggression.
"Roar!"
This time it was a unique, thunderous roar that shook the surrounding trees. William didn't even need the help of the green light of the candle to determine this monster's kind. The sound itself was a signature of raw, crackling power.
"The nightfall lightning fox… Damn! I ended up meeting such a relative to you, old fox," Instead of panicking at the sight of the apex predator, William was laughing in pure excitement. His prayers were answered this time, as that fox was just perfect for his needs.
This monster hailed from the fox clan, but it came as a variation between foxes and lightning birds. So, it was normal to have feathers on its body, a mix between dark and lightning spirits.
Instead of the small physique known for foxes, this one was more like a cheetah—built for explosive, linear speed and devastating pounces. William looked at his foe while the arrow he released just flew fast towards it.
But with such a roar, a strange light emitted from its mouth, dazzling to the eye, pure milky white in colour. In an instant, it slammed against the arrow, smashing it into pieces with a crackle of static.
"Not going to fall easily, aren't you?"
Despite this coming as a surprise to William, he instantly reacted. That attack from the fox monster wasn't just aimed to stop his arrow, but it also covered the remaining distance and went towards him as well. A secondary discharge of lightning leapt from the impact point, arcing toward William's position.
Such a monster showed another variation. That attack seemed to carry the element of lightning and light, making that fox monster a hybrid type monster.
Hybrid monsters were strong and vicious, which explained why it showed such intelligence while being only silver grade. They possessed a dual-core of power that was notoriously difficult to counter.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
This time, William demonstrated his vast fighting experience. That monster wasn't the only one with quick reflexes; William was as well. The moment that light attack appeared, William jumped to the side instantly to evade the searing bolt.
At the same time, he took out two arrows and released them in succession—one towards the monster, and the other to the left side of it.
"Roar!"
Another light attack fell from the fox's maw, and the arrow heading directly towards the monster was destroyed in a flash of white heat.
As for the other arrow, the monster didn't give it any heed. It seemed the monster mistook William's actions for his attempt to close any escape route on it, or just a preemptive move from William, future-reading its next moves and aiming at that spot it would jump at next. It assumed William had simply missed or was firing wide to force its movement.
But it underestimated William!
Boom!
Using the weak spirit connection with that arrow—the link he had forged with his own blood in the workshop—William diverted its course at the last moment. The arrow strangely arched midair, defying the laws of physics as it hooked inward, slamming heavily on the unprepared side of the monster.
Then a loud explosion occurred. The scarlet vibrant ore in the arrowhead detonated upon impact with the monster's natural lightning shield, creating a violent reaction.
The efforts of William weren't wasted. Just from the size of the exploding fireball and the smell of ozone, William knew if this monster wasn't killed instantly, then it would be heavily injured.