It has been two months since Nicklaus's fight with the baboon and since then, he has been going from fights to fights with beasts in the forest. Some were huge as hills and others small as basket balls but each had their own fighting style. Nicklaus has gotten zenkai boosts so many times he even forgot to count. He had once almost died fighting a panther like beast and if not for his luck by falling into a pit the elephant size panther could not enter, he would have been dead. When he woke up, he was all healed up and ready to beat the snot out of the panther which he did and it was satisfying.
He came to know his zenkai boost basically just let him became stronger than his opponent from the amount of damage his body got. He also got almost killed by beasts that used energy based attacks and he came to know he can copy and use those attacks immediately, like an overpowered sharingan. At the moment, he was fighting against a large mountain bear the size of two elephants stacked together lengthwise and widthwise.
"Take this, Darkness Bomb," Nicklaus said as he spit out beam of darkness from his mouth. The bear moved it's paw and encased itself with an earthwall. "An earth bender huh. Fine. Let's see who is stronger." Nicklaus saw his Darkness Bomb did no damage to the earth wall so he rushed there and punched it so hard it crumbled open. He then threw a punch at the bear and it swiped it's huge paw at him, flinging him away. Nicklaus crashed into trees before he stopped. He got up, a crazy smile on his face.
"I knew you were strong, king under the mountain. You just gave me the biggest zenkai boost I ever had," Nick said then rushed backs at the bear and punched again. His fist met it's paw and he was flung once again, his arm was definitely broken. He got up once again as he felt the warm energy all over his body and his broken arm fixed.
"You are full of surprises. You were hidden your strength huh. Let's see how long you can door that," he said. The bear suddenly roared at him and he was flung further backwards. He got once again only to see a paw coming for his face. He shielded himself only to be flung once again but this time he was not flung far, just a metre away. The bear was surprised.
"My turn," Nicklaus said and roaredd back at the bear, disorienting it. He sped at it and punched it head so hard it became wozzy. Before it could faint, he punched it on it jaw bring it back before giving it a tornado kick that flung it away, crashing into trees and boulders.
"I'm not done yet," Nicklaus shouted at it as he clasped his hands together in front of him. "Eat this, Energy Flare!" A yellow sphere formed on his palms before it exploded and destroying everything in front of him for half a kilometre. When the dust settled, the bear was nowhere to be seen, only ash and a barren ground was left. Nicklaus had on a armour made of scales he copied from a lizard like creature four times bigger than a salt water crocodile. Letting a sigh of relief, he sat down and looked at the sky.
"That's the toughest fight I have had so far. Un fortunately I cannot go after stronger beasts than it or I will be one punched out of existence. I should probably go to find a human settlement so that I can see how I am ranked as their system. Humans are physically weaker than beasts even in my former world so they must have cool abilities to keep up with them." With that, he got up and started running to a place he was almost positive had human settlement.
On the way there, there was no cliché things like a young girl being attacked by beasts, a merchant being attacked by bandits or a slave demihuman girl running away from slave traders. He went on running for two more days, hunting carnivorous rabbits in his way until he saw a huge wall ahead of him. Overjoyed, he sped up, leaving a shockwave behind him and almost arrived at the wall at an instant. Gathering energy at his legs the way another species of the carnivorous rabbits did, he jumped so high he reached at the top of the wall, surprising soldiers who were in patrol. They all aimed their spears and swords at him. Nicklaus was so overjoyed he overlooked this.
"Humans, fellow human! I am so happy to see you all," he said and hugged a stunned soldier.
"Let go of me and stand back as we try to identify who you are," the soldier growled at him. Nicklaus complied and got a good look at them. They were wearing gold plated armour which shone like mirrors under the sun. Their swords also had gold scabbards and the blades were made from a metal he could only think of as steel. They were quite stern as they looked at him as if he were some sort of enemy.
"What is an undentified Grandmaster level expert like you doing on Baron Sadar Enima's part of the Forbidden forest?" they asked him. Nicklaus was surprised by their question which had many meanings. First was the location he was in was called Forbidden Forest. Second, the existence of kingdoms or a level of order in the world of humans. Thirdly, there was a way to measure his strength. But he decided to make sure.
"How did you know I am a Grandmaster?" he asked. They looked at him as if he was stupid.
"No one but a Grandmaster level being or above can jump past this wall and seeing how young you are you must be a grandmaster," another soldier as if he was explaining to an idiot.
"How about the bear about two stories high and uses an earth shield to protect itself?" he asked them just to make sure. The soldiers paled and looked at the forest.
"You met an Earth bear in the forest?" they asked him and he nodded. "You are lucky to be alive. He must have been full to let you leave. It's a rank six beast, the same level as a Marquis Level expert. There's only the king's royal teacher that would defeat him in the kingdom." Nicklaus nodded at this and knew that only one person would match him in this kingdom but he was not about to have a big head because of this because he might meet an expert and get schooled because of his arrogance.
"Thank you for your information," Nicklaus said and flared his energy outwards, knocking the soldiers out. "If beasts have such wonderful skills then what about humans? I can't wait. But first, I need clothes and they happen to have one of the coolest armour I have ever seen for humans." He spent the next half hour prying off the armour from one of them then another hour putting it on. With that done he quickly used the memory scrambler skill he saw an evil mushroom use on a family of carnivorous family that started thinking it was not there to harm them and ended up being it's meal.
He then jumped down the wall and started walking in a random direction. Three hours later, his bet bore fruits as he saw a wall in front of him and many buildings higher than the wall a bit further. He guessed that must be the place where the wealthy lived. He quickened his pace and arrived at the gate. The guards he saw there were a far cry from the guards he saw at the wall. They were poorly dressed and their weapons not as exquisite. They all saluted at him.
"Welcome to Dulhum, sir," one of them said. Nicklaus guessed he must be the captain and he came to know those wall guards are quite reputable.
"At ease. I have a message for Baron Sadar," he told them, hoping his bet would work.
"You are in luck, sir. Baron Sadar has arrived in Dulhum two days ago. He was about to leave today so you might find him on his way," the man spoke again. Nicklaus thanked him before reading his memories about his armour's rank thanks to the multiple uses of Memory Scrambler. He was quite surprised by the information he got.
Those guards are elites among soldiers on the walls. Normal soldiers are either Disciple Level or Master Level but these soldiers are at Grandmaster level. Any higher level would become nobles if they are not taken into large families as it's elders. These soldiers work is to make sure that no beasts at level three and below cross the wall. Beasts at level four and above have territories for themselves thus rarely move out to kill and terrorise humans except when angled. He learnt that the hard way when he angered the panther which he came to know was a level five. So basically he came close to dying. He also came across information about the stables and he was going to pull out the classis move of all law enforcers. But first, he had to make sure he had inconsistencies.
He got into the town and made hiswalked along the road, keeping his eye out for a luxurious mode of transportation. The citizens were all looking at him in surprise and admiration. He basked on their admiration on him like an elephant on peanuts. Just then, he saw the coach he was looking for and hurried over. The soldiers there saw him coming over so they stopped. A tall middle aged man got out and looked at the golden armoured soldier coming towards him and frowned.
"Baron Sadar, I bring bad news from your portion of the Forbidden Forest," Nicklaus said. He sighed in relief when the man nodded meaning he did not have the wrong person. Secretly, he used Memory Scrambler to get the whole map of the kingdom because who better to have it than an official of the kingdom.
"Speak," the Baron said gruffly.
"An Earth bear has been confirmed spotted in your portion and one grandmaster level expert has died after sneaking past the wall. We have not confirmed if it has made it its territory or just passing so I came to give you the news before heading to headquarters and giving them this report," Nicklaus said with all the seriousness he could master.
Baron Sadar frowned when he heard this. His Main source of capital is that portion after he got it from his father and has been passed down from generation to generation. If the news of his portion having an Earthbear is spread out, his business would be crippled, thoroughly. Baron Sadar then looked at Nicklaus and smiled ominously.
"Of course. Let me lend you a hand. Cripke," Baron Sadar Enima's called out and a man jogged right next to him from behind the coach. "Your horse is a Persian Draconic horse, right?"
"Yes sir, the fastest horse in the kingdom," Cripke answered.
"Good, let's help our friend over here to take the news. Give him your horse so he can arrive there faster," Baron Sadar said. Cripke nodded, jogged behind the coach and came back with a horse that was two metres high on all fours, three metres long, red eyes, scale like skin, red man and tail whisk. Instead of hooves, it had menacing claws. On its back was a saddle that looked quite comfortable.
"This should be enough to make you arrive faster, right?" Baron Sadar asked Nicklaus who nodded eargerly. The horse was the coolest thing he had seen that hadn't tried to kill him so far. He thanked the Baron, got on the horse and rode off a little uncomfortably. Once he was out of sight, the Baron looked at Cripke.
"You have you horse tagged, right?" he asked and Cripke nodded.
"Unless I'm dead nobody can steal that horse and get away unless they are at the Legendary Level," Cripke answered.
"Good. I want you to find him and kill him," the barons said with finality and got into his coach. Cripke grinned viciously. He knew it wouldn't take long to find him for Forest Guards do not ride horses often because they are mainly on the wall. Also, from the way this Guard was riding the horse, it was the first time. He ran past the coach and followed his prey.
Nicklaus had already known how to ride the horse thanks to his monstrous adaptability. Once he was at the gates, he was already on a full trot and going faster. He waved at the guards goodbye as the horse ran past them. The horse went on picking up speed until it reached its maximum. Persius Draconic horses have tremendous amount of stamina so it maintained that trot for three hours before it had to slow down and take a break.
Nicklaus decided to have his dinner then as it was getting dark. Luckily, this saidiof the wall had normal rabbits so he caught one, skinned it, washed it and started roasting it. After it was done, he started eating it and immediately felt it rather bland. It's taste was nowhere near the taste of the monsters behind the wall. Sighing in disappointment, he ate the whole rabbit and lay under a tree to have some shut eye.
Sometime after he drifted off to sleep, he felt killing intent towards him not far from him. His instincts flared and he got up, fists clenched. Rather than a monster, he saw Cripke coming towards him, panting and holding a sword.
"You bastard. Do you know how long I head to run just so that I can kill you?" Cripke asked him.
"Was I supposed to stay still and let you kill me?" Nicklaus asked with a teasing smile. He knew why the Baron sent Cripke Andheri was rather grateful. Cripke wore clothes that would not be identified as a government worker. He unsheathed his sword as he saw Cripke seething in anger.
"I am a rank 3 Noble. Do you think you can hurt me?" Cripke said with a mocking smile.
"The only reason you are alive is so that I can see what skills you have and take them," Nicklaus said.
"You will pay for your arrogance. Whirlwind Slash," Cripke shouted and attacked with a furry of slashes. The slashes were fast but Nicklaus could keep up with them no problem. From the exchange, he came to know how humans were inferior to beasts in terms of physical strength. Cripke was stunned to see Nicklaus keeping up with him so he decided to go with another skill.
"Sword Radiance!" His sword suddenly shorn bright and as he swung it at Nicklaus and he parried with his own, it was cut apart like tofu. Nicklaus dodged another slash before jumping backwards and looking at his sword.
"That was my favourite sword,"
"Perhaps now you know the difference in our levels," Cripke said, arrogantly. Nicklaus sighed before dropping his ruined sword.
"This just makes me want to fight you more," Nicklaus said as his smile became creepy, like a weird uncle seeing a cute girl. Cripke shuddered before attacking.
"This is the end, Meteor Sword," Cripke said as the sword suddenly picked up speed towards Nicklaus's neck. Nicklaus raised his hand to block it as Cripke sneered when he saw this. The sword went through the golden armour before stopping as he heard a metallic sound ringing in the air.
"What the..." Before he finished the sentence, Nicklaus had punched him hard, making him fly away and destroy a tree. Before he could recover, Nicklaus was on him.
"Smash," Nicklaus said as his fist suddenly became bigger as it went down towards Cripke's head who quickly rolled out of the way. But the shockwave of the first threw him a couple metres away. He got up quickly and realized that the Forest Guard in front of him was not ordinary. He was stronger than him and was just playing with him.
"You are from the headquarters, aren't you?" Cripke asked through clenched teeth, trying to find a way out of this. Nicklaus smiled and removed his helmet. When Cripke saw the young face of a fourteen year old boy looking at him, his mind just short-circuited for s second. "Who are you and why are you impersonating a Forest Guard?"
"Who I am is not important but why why I am dressed like this is because I had no options of clothes. But your clothes are just perfect, though a little offsize," Nicklaus said. He suddenly disappeared from Cripke's sight and before his mind could tell him to run, his neck was snapped, instantly killing him. Nicklaus looked at the body apathetically before sighing and started looting it. From the clothes to the coin purses. The removed the armour on him and wore the clothes. Due to his physical strength growing, his body had grown taller for his age that's why nobody could notice the difference.
Once Nicklaus had wore the new clothes, he got on the Persius Draconic horse and galloped off to the opposite direction from where he was going originally. He had offended a Baron and though he was not afraid of the hired hands he would senfafter him, it would get to the point of annoying so he had to be far from here before he is found.