He had been killing beasts nonstop for a day now. Every single one of the beasts he killed were at rank 4 or lower. It was disappointing for him to be unable to discover any rank 5 entities. Without them, he would only be able to touch upon this darkness mystery with excruciatingly slow progress, which is something he can not have, as he only has 6 days left in this dimension before he gets trapped here indefinitely.
On top of that, he could feel that his sword mastery was about to breakthrough at any moment. He just needed a challenge, which won't be possible unless he encountered a rank 5 beast.
He decided to continue looking and hope for the best outcome to occur.
"Hiss." He turned around to see another Quatzal, but this time it was at the peak of rank 4.
"You're not enough. Find me a rank 5!" Unsheathing his sword, he cut through it with one swift strike.
Upon dying, Raikou could feel another presence approaching.
A bigger Quatzal was slithering towards him with a fiery rage in it's eyes.
"That must've been someone related to you. Ahem, so... what do we do now?" As soon as he finished speaking, the Quatzal leapt at him with it's mouth wide open. The venom dripping off it's fangs looked troubling, so Raikou stepped back and guarded with his sword.
"This is perfect!" He was ecstatic with the situation, as the serpent is a perfect target for him to hone his sword skills on.
The cloud slashes that he acquired a while back didn't have as much use to him now, but it was better than nothing. He really needed a new skill for his sword.
"Cloud Slashes!" He used the skill 3 times consecutively and heavily injured the opponent.
Raikou could feel his familiarity with the sword increasing, which displayed that he had broken through!
"Thanks fella! You've really helped me." He smiled and finished the Quatzal off.
It was a weak opponent, as it was only at the 1st level of rank 5, but it was the first beast that allowed him to shoot off sword skills at without insta killing it. It helped him breakthrough and he was jumping with joy currently.
"With my new mastery, I can fight mid level rank 5 cultivators without having to run with my tail between my legs."
He looked at the newly improved skill.
Skill: Sword Grandmaster (Passive)
Rank: A
Mastery: Low
It was the only A rank skill he had at the moment, as well as being the only one he developed to this stage. It felt different from acquiring the SSS rank skills, other than Void of course.
The darkness he absorbed from the creature was significantly better than that of previous kills. If anything, all the kills previously put together barely compared to this singular kill.
With the current target out of the way, Raikou went looking for more beasts to kill. He had a feeling that something very interesting would appear from reaching the threshold for whatever it is that he is absorbing. The darkness absorption wasn't something he completely understood currently, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
At that moment, he felt a skin crawling aura in the distance.
"Now, what the fuck is that!" His back was covered in sweat just by being in the presence of such malevolent energies.
--
Ghost felt like a new being after cleaning up and using the facilities of that town. It was exhilarating
All the mental stress and grime on his body withered away with the calming feeling of being in a spa. He had money in the ring Raikou left him, so he was able to deal with that awkward situation that had occurred when he entered the spa. After that, it was happy sailing for him!
"Ahh, what was it that I was even angry about?" His thoughts felt clear and the anger he had previously felt had subsided considerably.
He left the town and continued walking the path he took previously.
A group of people ahead were travelling using a caravan, and Ghost wanted to join them. He walked up to caravan and smiled. "Do you have space for one more?"
Upon seeing the toothy grin on his raggedy face, the people were filled with disgust and fear, so they quickly got the driver to move as quick as possible.
Ghost's face contorted in weird ways. He looked at his reflection and the anger in his heart came rushing back in.
"That was it! RAIKOUUUUU!" The ugly visage he was met by reminded him of what Raikou did to him.
"Son of a bitch! You made me into a hybrid grotesquery! My foot is coming for your ass motherfucker. Feel my wrath"
Once again, he began running and running and running.
"Sooner or later, I will reach you and then we will have some fun." He grinned.
--
Raikou sneezed.
Even while being in the presence of a suppressing aura, he was still being remembered by others.
His popularity never ceded to impress him. It was neverendingly powerful.
It put a smile on his face and subsided the fear he felt from the aura.
"My fans are always there to put a sunny spot in a dark day. I love youuu!" He laughed.