It was a day later before Zeke and the cheetah once again approached the bear, who still hadn't gone out that far from his place yesterday. It was currently sleeping as Zeke noticed that its back to its prime now and full of vigor. Zeke then placed precautionary traps again in the perimeter.
Zeke approached the bear's perimeter but this time he didn't feel the need to get sneaky since the bear could nevertheless detect him when he gets too close. He strode forward slowly and drew out his sword.
The purpose as to why Zeke didn't kill the bear yesterday was for him to further solidify his Sword Orbit sword style. He figured if he could experience the same barrage of attacks again, his sword style would be refined and its might would increase.
When the bear saw the familiar figure of Zeke, it immediately stood and charged at him. It was so angry because of the utter humiliation it had suffered yesterday and now that it was back to its peak power, it immediately seized the first move, hoping to catch Zeke off-guard.
Zeke knew it would act like this, and he used [Jaguar Step] to blink to the side and dodge the ram. Faint sparks appeared on Zeke's leg as he lunged towards the bear, utilizing a mix of Dance of Death and Cloud Soaring Sword Style to quickly inflict multiple slash wounds on the bear, hoping to make it angry quicker. To his surprise, the bear actually held its berserk ability and continued battling against Zeke with its normal form. Zeke guessed that it should've adapted knowing that it knew it would be at a disadvantage should it activate its mind-eating ability.
Zeke was at a loss as to what to do so he just decided to inflict as much damage to the bear as possible, hoping for it to go berserk before Zeke could kill it. If someone were to hear Zeke's plan, they would absolutely stare at Zeke with shock and fear, as if the guy in front of them wanted to die horribly.
Zeke then switched to his bread and butter mixed sword style, The Cloud Soaring Sword with Firebreath Sword. He clashed head-on with the bear's attacks while also dealing the bear continuous low fire damage due to his sword being enveloped by fiery aura.
While fighting, Zeke would use his new technique Sword Orbit to defend against the bear's paw attacks while he would switch to his mixed sword style whenever the bear gets tired of using its arms. Zeke planned on having a battle of attrition against the beast until it gets berserk, Only then will Zeke completely focus on defending with his Sword Orbit.
The bear was enraged by Zeke's actions. It felt immense shame and indignation seeing as its attacks get blocked or deflected while the puny human in front of it could even deal damage whilst blocking. It then jumped backwards and threw a stone towards Zeke. Because of the bear's monstrous strength, the hurled stone became like a small meteor that will hit Zeke. Feeling the lethality of the stone, Zeke immediately used [Spatial King's Domain] as he blinked towards the bear, switched his sword into a spear, and started executing a mix of Imperial Spear Technique with Might of the General. The two synergized very well since Might of the General is an all-around technique while the Imperial Spear Technique focused on doing improved swift stabs.
At this point, Zeke felt excitement like never before. This feeling was better than being on the edge of life and death as today, he knew his aura could faintly suppress the bear now, making it so the bear's attacks would decrease in power, making him a bit less dangerous. He then switched to his other weapons since he figured he could take this chance to hone all his other weapon techniques. Of course, Zeke tried to use Sword Orbit using a spear sometimes but most of the time, he couldn't pull it off due to the spear's long figure. He then decided to hone his Sword Orbit further but using a spear this time. He felt that he shouldn't stick to one weapon right now considering he was still in his early years and it wasn't necessary to pick one right now. In the future, he might consider focusing on one if he finds mastering many weapons harder than expected.
Zeke was immersed in fighting against the bear that he didn't realize that almost half an hour had passed by, and the bear he was currently fighting already showed signs of fatigue. It knew this, so before it completely faints, it decided to turn berserk and hope to finish off Zeke once and for all.
Zeke then became much more excited seeing the bear's current expression since this was the best state of the bear that could give immense benefits to Zeke's Sword Orbit. Zeke then swapped to his sword and started to defend the bear's sudden increase of attacks. Not only were the attacks faster than earlier, but it was also much more powerful. Sure enough, the bear couldn't handle the fatigue anymore as it again fainted on the spot. Zeke felt dissatisfied as the bear's berserk only went on for less than a minute. Still, he knew he still gained more benefits after today's 'fighting session' with the bear. He then left cheerfully. The cheetah, who was still watching in the distance, looked at Zeke with awe-filled eyes. It couldn't imagine how the human in front of it could be almost as fast as him but also as strong as the bear considering he could fend off the bear's full-force attacks.
Zeke and the cheetah then went back to the clearing. Zeke then sat down cross-legged while trying to absorb what he had gained as well as some battle techniques. After a whole hour, Zeke didn't go back to the bear but instead went out to find the other two beasts. He knew the bear had to rest after their 'session' so he decided to go for the other two.
After looking for another hour, Zeke and the cheetah finally stumbled upon one of them. It was a big black serpent as tall as Zeke with a body length of almost three Zekes. It was very humongous but its color made it hard to spot since it could coil itself in a tree and anyone would find it hard to notice it.
Fortunately, with the cheetah's keen sense of smell and Zeke's enhanced vision, they saw the serpent coiled around a tree while it hissed and looked at the nearby rabbit. After a few moments, when the rabbit went a bit closer, the serpent suddenly lunged its head and instantly devoured the rabbit whole, stunning both Zeke and the cheetah. The cheetah looked so frightened that it actually stepped backward for a few steps before refusing Zeke's call. It sat there, looking directly at the serpent with fear in its eyes while it was slightly shivering.
The cheetah clearly knew the extent of the serpent's speed of attack. As a predator, it naturally knew how fast and deadly the serpent's lunge was. It was so fast that even the rabbit couldn't even utter a sound before it was swallowed whole. In terms of lunging speed, the cheetah clearly knew the difference between it and the serpent. It didn't dare to go near as it still didn't know the serpent's speed, and if it's also fast, then the cheetah would absolutely run for the hills.
Zeke, however, felt the exact opposite of the cheetah. He knew what kind of Serpent it was so he felt slightly confident in killing it. However, the serpent's abilities weren't really mentioned in the books. It only mentioned three to four skills that the serpent usually does, but he could tell from a glance that this serpent isn't like any other normal Kingly Serpents.
Kingly Serpents were one of the peak predators of the snake species. It was very cunning and fast that any hunter would immediately frown upon hearing or knowing they'd be up against that. The adventurers weren't really afraid of him per se, but they found it annoying dealing with these pests. It was because its whole body seemed like it has oily and has lubricants, one that's thick enough to casually make weapons ineffective against it. If a person attacks it with a sword, the sword would only slide off to the side while spears would also slide off. The adventurers were very annoyed by its innate feature so in order for them to hunt serpents like these, they had to have magicians on their team. Without the magicians acting as damage dealers, then they would not even finish the battle even after a year. The serpent's body was just that fraudulent that melee fighters couldn't even properly damage its body, while its body was also individually strong, making magicians deal significantly less damage than when damaging other beasts. There's also another strength of the Kingly Serpents, and it is their very fast head lunges. This was the first ability Zeke and the cheetah saw that marked one of the rabbit's demise. It has a very elongated neck up to the main body, making it so it could reach longer with just a bit of wind force. This serpent's move was closely similar to [Jaguar Step], except that it didn't have legs so it was applied to its part just under the head, making it a very deadly trap should someone be foolish enough to go near it.
Zeke approached very carefully, excitement and the burning feeling inside his body started surging again. When he approached 5 meters away from the serpent, it suddenly lunged its head towards Zeke, who immediately used [Deflect] and jumped backward. It caught Zeke by surprise but he regained his composure quickly.
'It seems that it could detect its foe within 5 meters, and once detected, it would quickly lunge its head away from the tree.' Zeke thought of a new change of plans. He knew about the Serpent's first move now, but he still needs to be careful since he still didn't know or witness the serpent's other skills.
When Zeke tried to get closer again, the serpent head suddenly lunged at him, but this time, it was faster and more ferocious! This caught Zeke slightly off guard as he quickly cast [Spatial King's Domain] to distance himself again.
'This guy's airtight in its offense.'
Zeke admitted that he, too, was very surprised and horrified by the serpent's skills and performance. It seemed like the serpent also had a berserk skill too, just like the bear. However, Zeke didn't know if its berserk skill also had repercussions, so he could only continue to probe the serpent until it shows any repercussions whatsoever.
After another hour...
'Shit, this is no good.' Zeke grumbled as he sat down in a small hill far away from the serpent's tree.
Up until now, Zeke couldn't find the opportunity to get close to it as its reaction speed as very fast, enough to catch out Zeke's [Jaguar Step]. The only escape move Zeke had that worked is the [Spatial King's Domain] which directly teleports the user into a nearby place using the spatial element. Any other escape spells that Zeke had, like his [Jaguar Step] as well was Wind Walk, couldn't hold a candle against the serpent. It would continuously lunge forward towards Zeke whenever it saw Zeke crossing its perception zone, and this was one of the reasons why Zeke didn't rest in front of the serpent, but on a small hill far away from it instead. He feared that the serpent might get out of its tree and attack him but after a few minutes of experimentation, Zeke concluded that the serpent must've lived on that tree for a long time for it to refuse to leave. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious, and it turned out to be a very wise decision after all.
'What the fuck is that?'
Zeke noticed a huge black slithering line coming towards their hill at a fast pace. It was moving very fast while Zeke could see the serpent's ruby red eyes staring at them not with anger, but with the eyes of an apex predator taking revenge against someone that dared to hunt it. Zeke and the cheetah panicked, especially Zeke since he knew he was powerless and helpless in front of this serpent.