Violent energy shot out from his fist as he punched the brown fur of the large bear, the impact of his fist doing little more than tickling the beast, but the subsequent implosion of destructive energy caused it to roar in pain as its insides where squeezed and contorted, the bear rearing back from Lewis, its predatory gaze shifting to one of fear as it found itself on the back foot.
This was the first creature Lewis had run into since ranking up to F-grade and evolving his class, so this confident earth bear also became Lewis's testing dummy for his new abilities. He had been hesitant and honestly a little scared facing the large creature, its body twice the size of a normal brown bear, and fur matted with dense brown earth and rocks similar to hardened clay, forming a veritable armor around the creature. His boosting skill would have increased his strength and toughness to allow him to punch through that level of defense with ease, his pure strength having been enough to break bones and smash rocks, but with that huge boost now gone, his strength was far less impressive. He was still stronger than any professional athlete back on earth, but far from enough to do any significant damage to this armored bear.
His first thought was that he needed to use the obsidian dagger that he had tucked away in a pocket of his leather jacket. When the bear had spotted and charged him, its body thankfully slowed down by its large frame and dense armor, smashing its way through the underbrush and mowing over smaller trees, Lewis had waited for the last second before dodging to the side like a professional bullfighter, stabbing out with the black dagger, but the blade did little more than chip the bears tough exterior before shattering into pieces.
Lewis had felt his heart leap into his throat at the sight, almost giving in to his fight or flight response and sprinting in the opposite direction. He would have succumbed to his instincts too, if he hadn't witnessed the heavy bear struggle to slow down and turn towards him, resulting in it awkwardly slamming into a large tree and struggling to turn to face him again. It had given him time to compose himself and confirm that he at least had the upper hand in mobility, meaning he would likely be able to lose the bear in the forest as long as he didn't run in a straight line.
Calming himself, he realized that he had never faced such a foe without his spiritual alignment being active and sharpening his mind and senses. It felt weird feeling the adrenaline coursing through his body and making his fingers jumpy, having grown used to the supernatural focus the boosting skill provided. Without it, all the emotions he subconsciously suppressed when using the spell were flooding him, making his thoughts feel even slower and his reactions less polished. As a result, it took him a few moments longer than it should have to realize that the extremely sharp obsidian blade hadn't shattered just because of the bear's tough armor, but because the blade no longer possessed any visible mana to his senses, the broken pieces were no different from any other rock.
Lewis almost slapped himself when he noticed. He had forgotten about his body constantly radiating an anti-mana field, which had well and truly scrubbed out every scrap of mana from the blade when it was inside of his pocket. He tossed away the broken hilt, flexing his knuckles instead as he eyed the approaching bear, the creature no longer running at him, instead advancing with deliberate steps, making sure Lewis wouldn't be able to dodge away again, but he no longer planned to.
The level 11 earth bear roared so loud he thought his ears might bleed before swinging its meaty paw out towards him, Lewis leaning back to avoid the swipe, then leaning in and delivering a punch to the creatures shoulder, [Unraveling strike] activating on contact as a blast of violent energy shot into the creature, its body jerking back in pain and surprise as it roared in agony from the tenderization of its internals. Lewis dodged back out of the way of its wild retaliation, the bear favoring its other side due to the injury, but Lewis was just getting started.
Rushing to its injured side, he took a risk and kicked its stomach, his destructive energy jumping from his foot and invading the bear's ribs like an invisible gust of wind, the bear's insides appearing to visibly twist and implode, the sight unlike any strike or explosion he had ever experienced. Two of the creature's large ribs audibly cracked as its external armor of solid earth fell away in lumps of dirt and motes of mana from proximity to his passive nullfield, allowing his unraveling strike to reach deep inside the creature, inducing far more damage.
The bear's calls turned to wheezing as it collapsed from the intense pain, realization about its impending future coming too late as Lewis reached its head, jaws open in agony, and a high pitched groan ripping from its throat as he landed a solid punch to the side of its head, violent destructive energy entering the bears head and destroying its brain, the bears pained cries cutting off instantly as it lost all strength and went limp.
You have slain Earth bear - lvl 11 (+10 TP)
His heart still hammering, he conceited that Unravelling strike was indeed insanely powerful, the huge earth bear instantly dying from a punch to the head, something that definitely wouldn't have been possible with spiritual alignment alone. But he wondered why he had received so little TP from a creature a level higher than himself. Was the amount of points awarded based on level disparity or something?
He felt a little frustrated about that, but didn't really need the points anyway; he didn't have anything he particularly wanted to buy from the system shop now that he had gotten as much information as he was likely to get from it, at least in terms of his strange anti-mana and his inability to use other mana types. Still, he wondered if the was something else he could buy. The shop apparently had entire buildings, so perhaps he could get a comfy bed?
But oddly enough, he didn't feel tired in the slightest despite having been going for well over 24 hours by this point. He had simply assumed it was the result of his increased stats, so it made him wonder how much food and sleep he even needed anymore, as he felt completely fine.
But his thoughts were dispelled when he heard something approaching from behind. Turning around and slipping into a ready stance, he was prepared to fight another large bear or more of those steel wolves that seemed to occupy this territory. But much to his surprise, it was actually two sweaty and ragged humans. Lewis lowered his hands, about to greet the new people, when they seemed to spot him standing beside the oversized body of the earth bear, their eyes visibly widening as they adjusted their course towards him. He identified them right away, having begun getting into the habit of using the skill to level it up.
[Human - lvl 3]
[Human - lvl 2]
Lewis was immediately surprised at their low levels. Honestly, he wasn't sure how they had survived this long without leveling up, they had probably been running and hiding, after all, many of the creatures deeper in the forest were F-grade, like the wolves and bear, so perhaps they simply hadn't gotten the opportunity to face creatures at their own level?
"Hey, you guys alright?" He called, but right as he asked, he noticed their strange, disheveled clothes; they looked like they were wearing mud-covered medieval gear. Their faces filled with fear and desperation as they rushed towards Lewis. He frowned at the sight as they didn't appear to be slowing down. But before he could say anything further, a large figure exploded out of the forest behind them, the being over 3 meters tall, its body the color of dark green with braded black hair and two tusks sticking up from its lower jaw, the creature seeming to leap right out of a fantasy book.
[Orc - lvl 8]
Oh, so that's why they were running.
Lewis was taken aback by the charging orc, but he quickly smirked when the orc spotted him next to the earth bear and slowed to a halt.
Yeah, that's right. I'm definitely stronger than this orc, bring it on, big guy. He thought to himself, silently stepping in the path of the two ragged humans who passed him, the two locking eyes for a moment, a silent understanding passing between them as they hid behind the bear's corpse and breathed heavily, trusting in Lewis to protect them despite neither of them knowing each other. Well, it wasn't like the two newcomers had any choice, they were spent, they would surely die without Lewis, be it the orc or some other predator finally catching them.
"What's wrong big guy, scared to take on someone your own size?" Lewis taunted, his fist ready to deliver the same destructive payloads he gave the bear.
The orc simply grunted as he at stared Lewis with his surprisingly human but hate-filled eyes, as if the orc would pounce at any moment, yet he held himself back, his bare muscular chest rising and falling as the two stood in a tense standoff. Lewis was about to move forward to attack when he sensed movement behind the orc. Two more of the large green creatures appeared from the forest, their rapid steps slowing as they noticed the standoff, the backup coming to a stop beside the first orc, whose face now had a vicious grin.
"What is this? Another human? Why did you not capture it?" The final orc asked the first, who simply grunted, his eyes still locked on Lewis as he replied.
"This one strong, maybe stronger than me. Let's just kill this one and capture the other two." He replied, Lewis having begun to lose a bit of his previous confidence now that two more orcs had shown up, both only level 5 and 7, but he didn't like his odds. Even if he could fight them, the fact that they could speak meant that they were intelligent and able to coordinate, maybe even one of the sapient alien races sharing the tutorial, so he likely wouldn't be able to avoid getting hit at least once, and since his toughness wasn't that high, he feared these meatheads could do some serious damage. Nevertheless, he couldn't back down, not only because they openly claimed to want to kill him, but also because of the other two humans hiding behind him. If he failed, they would be screwed.
"What are you waiting for? Let's dance." He said, hoping to gain the upper hand by attacking first instead of letting them work together to beat his ass.
His plan seemed to work as the third orc grunted in what seemed like amusement before stepping forward, revealing a large spiked metal club which he swung vertically at Lewis, forcing him to leap backwards to avoid getting hit, the orc smiling as Lewis was put off balance, but he quickly recovered and moved in close, trying to get within the creatures guard, not only to deliver his lethal attacks, but also to deny the orc the ability to swing his spiked club around. In this case, the weapon's weight seemed to work in his favor, for despite what was likely a very high amount of strength, Lewis was still fast enough to rush passed the creature's guard before it could perform another swing.
The orc seemed to think that was a stupid idea as he used his free hand to reach for Lewis, and admittedly, it would have been a very bad idea getting close to a mountain of muscle, but Lewis punched the incoming hand, unraveling strike firing a burst of destructive power into the orc's limb and causing flesh and blood to explode from his wrist, the orc crying in agony as its hand was hanging from only a few strands, his cry cut off a moment later when an uppercut blasted destructive energy into its head and flipped the lights off permanently.
The entire fight was over so fast that the other two orcs didn't even have time to process what had happened before Lewis had slipped out from beside the falling orc and lunged for the second, the creature so caught off guard that it simply raised its arms and stepped back as Lewis slammed his fist into its gut, the wet sound of organs imploding sounding through the clearing as the second orc coughed up blood and collapsed to his knees.
But Lewis didn't have time to put the creature out of its misery before he was forced to duck aside the kneeling creature, using it as cover as the first orc swept out with his own club, this one covered in ominous red symbols as it slammed into the head of the second orc, exploding it like a watermelon and narrowly missing Lewis. He leapt away, staring at the aftermath of the headless orc, its brains spread all over the ground, but he spotted something strange about the first orcs club. It seemed like the blood was disappearing from the weapon, as if the club was absorbing it, the glowing red symbols etched across it seeming to brighten in intensity as it did.
He got a very bad feeling about that as the first orc stepped over the body of its comrade, no hint of emotion for the orc it had just killed, as its eyes focused on Lewis with such intensity that you would have fought Lewis had killed his entire family or something, the orcs eyes practically shaking as it suddenly let out a massive war cry that shook the closest branches, the orc bellowing towards the sky, the muscles all over it's body seeming to twitch and bulge, expanding in real time.
Lewis stared in surprise as the creature lowered its head again, but this time he instantly knew something was different with it. It's eyes no longer held that look of absolute hatred, now, they were bloodshot and seemed more animalistic than anything, the orc grunting furiously, like a beast preparing to charge, before it suddenly sprinted forward, saliva spraying from its mouth as it let out savage cries, its club swinging around rapidly, forcing Lewis to retreat further, the the orc was fast, far faster than it had been before, it's club slamming into his left arm before he could move out of the way.
Lewis felt something crack in his arm as he was sent flying away, his vision blurred from the pain as he rolled to a stop, the rumbling sound of the orc rushing after him giving him the adrenaline boost he needed to push through the pain and disorientation, getting to his feet in a flash, just in time to throw himself to the side, avoiding another wild swing of the creature's club as it crashed into a nearby tree stump and exploded it in a blast of splinters, the orc still screaming its unintelligible nonsense, as it swung its steel club with wild abandon.
It moved it's club with such speed and power that Lewis wasn't able to get close enough to strike it, his left arm feeling broken and shooting waves of agony into his mind, but he did his best to ignore it for now, looking for anyway to get around the orcs deadly weapon, but it seemed to simply grow faster and more powerful with every passing moment, Lewis once again rolling out of the way as the club exploded the ground besides him, a legitimate crater forming from the impact, but the orc didn't struggle to retrieve the weapon at all, in fact, it seemed to have become even faster, moving as if the large steel object weighed nothing despite it having clearly struggled to swing it when it had first exploded the head of the unfortunate second orc.
Seeing the red symbols along the weapon continue to increase in brightness, Lewis realized he had overlooked it. The weapon was clearly magical, his mana detection informing him of some sort of link to blood, but he had been too focused on the fight to think on it further. But now it was clear, the weapon was somehow making the orc stronger. Luckily, Lewis had already demonstrated that mana-reinforced weapons were useless around him, his arcane nullfield skill expanding outward for the first time since he received it.
It felt strong, different from how he had manipulated his mana before, more like he was exhaling than actually controlling anything, his mana senses showing his nullfield's influence expanding outside of his immediate vicinity, expanding to encompass two meters before him, enough to envelope the orcs club as he dodge out of the way again, the club striking the earth once again, but this time, the red symbols winked out and the orc jerked in surprise as the weapon remained anchored to the ground, only lifting a few centimeters into the air before collapsing back down, whatever enhancement it had provided suddenly dispelled.
Lewis didn't give the orc time to think as he immediately leapt toward it, the creature having momentarily forgotten about him as its animalistic gaze stared at the suddenly heavy club like it had betrayed him, the orc yanking it with far greater strength, the club lifting up again, but it was already too late as Lewis kicked out at the creatures knee, its flesh tearing and imploding as it buckled, Lewis punching its lowered face with his good arm, making the creature's head snap back, blood exploding from its mouth and eyes, but surprisingly, it remained alive as Lewis struck again, this time exposing a portion of its skull in an explosion of destructive energy.
You have slain Orc - lvl 8 (+5 TP)
Lewis breathed heavily as he watched the partially disfigured orc's face meet the ground, its brain matter leaking out on the forest floor as he stumbled backwards, his heart beating erratically as he fell backward, clutching his injured arm and wincing. He looked at his injury and found that he was bleeding quite a bit. A piece of white bone was visibly sticking out of his arm. His eyes widened at that, the pain he had been repressing suddenly rushing forth in a flood, threatening to overwhelm him as he stifled a scream, growling in his throat as he gripped his arm with his still shaky hand and squeezed, popping the bone back into place.
He felt like he was going to pass out from the pain as he collapsed onto his back, lying flat on the ground, his vision swimming.
Holy hell, this hurts. I really need more toughness. Or some armor. Too bad these orcs weren't worth much TP. He thought idly, trying to distract from the pain of a broken bone, but that train of thought suddenly reminded him of the system shop. Wait, can't I just buy some sort of health potion or medical supply from the shop?