NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52: Deadly Encounter at the entrance
The boulder hurled towards Ray was massive.
A quick glance would tell that it was the size of a truck, at least 9 feet tall and 7 feet wide, easily weighing several tons, and the air shrieked in protest like a banshee as it cut across space like a cannonball fired from a siege cannon!
It tore through the gap between them with frightening momentum, threatening to crush Ray and turn him into a meat paste!
Ray twisted his lips into a mocking smirk, as if ridiculing the cheap attempt on his life. Any other iron rank tamer would've been shitting their pants if they were in his shoes. However, he had expected to be attacked the moment he entered the Slime Nest and had come prepared!
An azure light flashed.
The boulder was split apart into two equal halves as an Azure Wind Blade cut cleanly through it.
The two halves thundered past him before smashing into the ground heavily, raising dirt and dust.
Just then, a cold voice thick with nefarious intent came from ahead. Merely hearing it felt like having one's skin licked by a serpent that had already coiled tightly around them. Ray's reaction to it was just as intense. Goosebumps prickled across his neck and arms.
"Such an elaborate scheme, and you still managed to thwart it… it's almost as if you had seen it coming."
Ray lifted his gaze.
Not far away, a tall, lanky man stood with his gaze affixed on him. The man was slender like a willow, but tall like an iron pole, his head was triangular. His pale skin was as white as chalk, as if it had been painted on him, and a horn jutted from his forehead, marking him unmistakably as a Fiend.
"For a Fiend, you're quite sharp," Ray remarked.
"You knew you would be ambushed upon entering the Slime Nest, yet you still dared to come?" The Fiend's voice carried disbelief.
Ray scoffed. "Why wouldn't I dare? Fiends who scamper into an E-rank dungeon at the whisper of treasure are bound to be weak, no stronger than Bronze Rank beings. It's not like I haven't killed such a fiend before. Although I relied on tricks, the fact remains—he died by my hand. Since then, I've only grown stronger. And you? Sneak attacks might be your forte, but you've already failed to catch me off guard. That means you've already lost. Forfeit your life. I don't want to dirty my hands squashing a bug."
Ray deliberately projected complete dominance, speaking as though he held absolute control over the situation, as though killing the fiend would take no more effort than swatting a fly. Every word was designed to provoke, to belittle, to make the fiend believe he was nothing more than an inconvenience!
The fiend's expression twisted, showcasing he had fallen for Ray's tricks. His pale face, already unsettling, now warped with fury looked more menacing. He had never been so humiliated. To be openly disdained by a human—someone he viewed as prey—was unbearable. Rage burned in his crimson eyes, and his killing intent intensified until it broke into reality, materialising in the shape of red threads.
"Your arrogance is ridiculous. Go boost in hell!"
The Fiend summoned a black sword, as he gripped its hilt, the red threads wound around it, increasing its sharpness to a level where it could cut through steel like mud. With his sword's sharpness enchanted to a level incomparable to ordinary swords, he charged in a straight line to reap Ray's soul!
"Mistaking confidence for arrogance? That's the cause of your death."
These words had barely left Ray's lips when over a dozen Azure Wind Blades flashed out from behind him!
He had created them before entering the Slime Nest, using his body to hide them from sight. The Fiend didn't saw them coming until it was too late.
The Fiend never stood a chance. His body was sliced and diced into pieces before he could even comprehend what had killed him. His final sight was only the blur of green lines crisscrossing his vision before darkness claimed him!!!
♦️ You have killed an Initial Stage Bronze Rank Fiend. You have gained +15000 EXP.
♦️ You have earned an additional +10000 EXP for killing a fiend an entire major realm above you.
♦️ You have been rewarded +100000 Additional EXP for killing a Fiend who had gained insight into Killing Intent, preventing a future calamity for the human race.
♦️ You have levelled up. You have gained +2 stat points.
Ray collected the fiend's body into his interspatial ring as a thought crossed his mind.
'Counting the points I've accumulated earlier, I now possess ten stat points. Considering what I am up to, it will be better to use them in a way that directly increases my chances of survival in unfavourable situations."
Ray started to think.
His racial trait was a gift that could be used to sense where the next danger was coming from before it arrived, but being able to do that didn't mean he could come out of every situation unharmed.
With low Agility, he might react to the warning issued by his Sixth Sense a fraction of a beat too late and take a crippling hit. In other words, every increase in Agility directly amplified the usefulness of his racial trait.
The higher his agility, the more efficienctly he would be able to respond to the warnings issued by his sixth sense. The more efficienct he was at that, the greater his chances of slipping through the jaws of death!
That was why he felt that increasing his Agility was important.
Thus, after thinking carefully, Ray put all his stat points into agility.
♦️ -10 SP
♦️ Your Agility has increased from 13 → 23
Ray felt lighter and faster, and when his steps changed into a sprint, he started to cover 50 meters every second, and this wasn't even his max speed as he wasn't trying hard!!!
"This is excellent." He nodded in satisfaction.
Going forward, he was bound to face more and more danger. His goal was to steal the opportunity the fiends had come here looking for, after all.
Depending on luck simply wouldn't cut it. He had to have the capability to snatch it away with his own hands.
This upgrade gave him just that as the heightened synergy between Sixth Sense and Agility provided him with considerable advantage over enemies with no foresight abilities!