Return of the Mythic Bloodline

"Thanks, pretty lady!" I exclaimed and then ran towards the remaining beasts.

I swung my mace with my left hand and fired lightning bolts with my right, with Nymeria covering my back.

It only took us thirty minutes to subjugate all the cursed beasts.

"Absorption of Soulforce completed.

Soulforce absorbed: 20.4k/300k"

"Whoa, this is the first time I haven't gotten hurt even after fighting this many beasts," I staggered, looking at myself.

"It's all thanks to you, pretty lady," I shouted towards the branch she was sitting on.

But she didn't respond. Her face was solemn, her eyes closed, and her body still.

"Hey, is everything alr—" But before I could complete my sentence, she suddenly opened her eyes and shouted,

"Get away from there fast!"

At that moment, I didn't ask her anything. No defiance, no counter-question.

I immediately jumped a few feet back, and as soon as I moved, a massive rock—out of nowhere—landed directly where I had been standing.

The impact when it landed was so huge that even those massive trees trembled from the shockwave.

Although I was several feet away from the point of impact, the shockwave still caught up to me, sending me flying into a tree. Blood gushed out of my mouth as my back smashed into the rough bark.

"What—what the fuck just happened?" I groaned, wiping the blood off my mouth.

If it weren't for Nymeria's warning, I'd have been flattened by that rock without even knowing what hit me.

I tried to look at the surroundings, but I couldn't see anything due to the dirt in the air. And since it was just a new moon the previous night, the darkness was also affecting my vision.

The dust slowly began to settle down, and as I tried to focus, I saw something beside the rock. It was a massive shadow, almost twice the size of Ruru.

I slowly stood up and began moving forward to grab my fallen mace.

When I reached a little closer, that shadow howled a terrifying, thunderous roar, clearing all the dust with just its sound.

The roar was so ominous that it felt like thousands of agonized souls crying. I held my ears in pain, but it was useless. Blood was already leaking out of my ears, and it felt like my eardrums had just shattered.

"ALERT!!

Jambavan has used the skill: Battle Cry

All of your stats will be decreased by 50%

Your fighting spirit will be decreased by 80%"

"Your stats will no longer be affected due to skill: Unshakable Mind

Your fighting spirit is returning to normal due to skill: Unshakable Mind"

After the dust cleared, I finally got a glimpse of the walking disaster in front of me.

It was a gigantic bear, emitting bloodthirst with every breath. It had huge, horrifying claws almost the size of my forearms. With every growl, it boasted its blade-like canine teeth, dripping with saliva.

Unlike other beasts, I could clearly feel the cursed energy radiating from it. Even the leaves on the trees around the bear began to wither or turn purple—unable to handle the presence of this calamity.

The air started to smell like rotten corpses, and breathing itself became a challenge for me.

Ding...

"You have found the cursed God Jambavan

A new subquest has been triggered!!

Subquest:

→ Free Jambavan from his agony by absorbing the cursed Soulforce

Reward upon completion: New skill: Blink

Penalty upon failure: None"

"So, this is the God of Strength—Jambavan," I mumbled.

In a split second, he jumped and launched his claws straight at me.

I moved my mace to the front, trying to defend myself from his claws. The mace was the only thing I was confident about.

My mace skills were already maxed out, so I thought I could easily defend myself from the attack.

But I couldn't have been more wrong. As Jambavan reached closer, his claws cleanly sliced through the mace like butter and reached my face.

I wasn't ready to move because I never thought I would have to. This mistake would have sliced my face off, but again...

Rather than the sound of claws meeting the bones of my face, another sound came.

Clang...

It was the sound of Nymeria's sword, which had defended my face from the claws.

She precisely moved her sword, deflecting the attack into the ground.

She grabbed me from the back of my collar and threw me backward as she stood in between Jambavan and me.

"Run away as fast as you can while I try to hold this monster here, "She spoke in a soothing tone trying to ease the tension.

Jambavan growled as his focus shifted to Nymeria.

He raised both of his arms and began a barrage of attacks with his claws at Nymeria.

His hands moved like the needle of a sewing machine, trying to pierce holes into his opponent.

But what was more impressive was Nymeria, who was taking that ridiculous attack head-on.

She meticulously deflected all of his attacks by countering at a perfect angle. And she was doing all of this without even using Soulforce.

Her body was leaner than mine, so even if she deflected those attacks, the recoil must have been horrible.

And still, she swung her sword gracefully with minimal and only necessary movement.

I hadn't noticed before, but now that I focused more, she wasn't just deflecting the attacks—she was even counterattacking in the split gap when Jambavan moved his arms backward.

But still, it was useless. All the times she attacked him with her sword, it didn't even scratch him.

She deflected the final attack, moved a few steps back, and shouted,

"This bastard… it's using Soulforce to protect its body from my attacks."

She looked toward me and snapped,

"Why are you not running away, idiot? I can't hold it here for long."

"Now-now, pretty lady, I won't be a man if I run away while a beauty stays behind to save my life," I muttered, and with a little whisper, I spoke,

"Lightning Bolt."

It struck straight to the face of Jambavan, who was about to bite Nymeria with its terrifying teeth.