Rodney was about to face three hungry looking beasts all on his own. And it didn't look like it would be an easy one given that two of the beasts were at mid intermediate while the bigger one was at peak intermediate tier.
Even if they weren't all at peak intermediate level, leaving one ranking level to the next meant one would meet beast that would prove more difficult than the previous level. And right now, Rodney was about to go up against three of an intermediate beast.
One had rushed at him and surprised him with its speed because judging from its size, Rodney had thought it would be a lot slower than it actually moved right now. But he wasn't going to stay surprised for long as he dashed at the beast too. If they had any sort of human intelligence they would have called Rodney's action downright "Ballsy" but having no such level of intelligence, they were unsurprisingly unimpressed.
Rodney had now gotten in range with the first one that charged at him and as he was about to jump up and go for a downward slash, the beast too had stopped its advancement and instead turned around.
For a split second, Rodney was confused by the beast's action until he saw what was heading his way.
What the beast had intended to do was not to run away by any means.
No, it turned around to place its self perfectly setting up for a tail whip and by the time Rodney had realized, it was too late to get out of the way.
The only option he had now was to block the attack with his sword and minimise the damage that would be done And that was exactly what he did, but things didn't play out the way he wanted it.
He had successfully blocked the attack, but now he wasn't on the ground any more as the sheer power behind the attack had sent him flying back till he hit one of the bamboo like trees which stopped his flight.
He might not have taken the full force of the hit, but the shockwave that went through his intermediate sword had affected his arm a little Not to talk of the little flight and impact he just had with the tree that he laid his back on currently. He wasn't incapacitated but had decided to stay on the ground as he did something else.
But while he sat on the ground, the beast was coming at him very fast.
"Urgh... Just this early into the fight?. I guess I can't match them in sheer power yet. I was going to test how long I can hold out without using CHI. But now they have forced me to not only use it to relieve myself of this pain but to use it in the fight as well".
The reason Rodney had remained in his sitting position after been sent flying was because right now he was using CHI to heal himself.
Sure he wasn't a master at it yet. But what he and Yang had focused on for a while now was gathering more CHI and learning to take control of it. And over the weeks that had gone by, he had learnt to move it around his body quite well. And that was exactly what he was doing right now.
"The pain isn't completely gone but at least I can walk through it". Rodney thought as he got up quickly seeing how the beast had closed in on him as it ran head first in attempt to impale Rodney with its protruding horn.
Rodney was prepared this time as the beast horns had connected but not on the intended target Instead of the horns impaling Rodney, it had instead hit the tree that Rodney had flown into from earlier. The horns penetrated the tree and came out at the other end.
Now the beast tried to wriggle its horn that was stuck in the tree free but in the process it had ended up destroying the tree, making the tree collapse on another tree. " Damn, I am glad I learnt that Ghost foot, i would have been that tree now". Rodney thought as he stood at the back of the beast. He knew taking the hit head on like before wasn't such a wise idea anymore, so instead he had reached deep into his new found bag of tricks and pulled one of his favourites out, The Ghost foot. The same move Yang had used when he tried to teach him a "Lesson".
"I can't keep running, I'm going to tire out soon enough. I'm done experimenting, I need to end this!" Rodney said as he sprinted forward. The beast now heading to the direction of the fallen tree thinking it's prey must have ran that way stopped as it heard something dashing towards it.
It turned around and as it set it's eyes on Rodney, it ran towards him too.
Rodney closed in and leapt up swinging full force at beast with the blade of his sword glowing white.
The strike connected to the rib area as the beast managed to move it's head out of the way in time making him to miss his intended target.
The black scales of the beast was known to be very refined as it could withstand hits after hits from it's fellow intermediate beasts and base level advanced tier beasts but that didn't seem to be the case as the now glowing sword hit the rib, a large cut could be seen with black blood pouring out.
It let out a deafening cry which caused Rodney to move back and cover his ear.
Hearing this, the second mid intermediate tier beast rushed in from behind catching Rodney off guard.
As it closed in on him, it spat out a green liquid from it's mouth aiming for Rodney.
The moment it made contact with his back, it burnt his shirt immediately and sunk into his skin.
"Arrrgghh....." he cried out.
*bing*
[you have been poisoned]
[extract the venom within ten minutes]
[time left: 9:59]
[failure: death]
As he saw the quest, he knew immediately what had made him feel pain.
It was the beast venomous spit.
Without hesitating, he's sword began to glow brighter and it extended onto his arms stopping at his elbow then he dashed at the beast which spat on him with his sword held out.
Seeing this, the beast was somewhat expecting what he was about to do next so it turned around ready to perform a tail whip but was in for a surprise as it expected a jump from Rodney which never came, instead he slid under the beast ripping it from the under all the way from its midsection to beneath its head.
The belly of the beast didn't seem to be protected with the black scales as the rest although it wouldn't make much difference when going up against the glowing sword.
It fell to the ground dead and as Rodney got up, he was now covered in black blood and beast guts which he just shook off but the blood had already stained his shirt.
He decided to look at his quest screen again as he called for his system's interface
[Time left: 8:43]
"I need to finish this quick" he thought as he stared at the last beast which seemed to be rather enjoying the fight as it stayed back and watched.
Just as he was about to turn around,he felt a weird tingling.
Certainly not a good one....no, it was a sign of danger and he responded by doing a moon salt over the incoming attacker which was the first beast he was dealing with.
"I really need to be more vigilant " he said a he landed.
And immediately he dashed in with his sword again, the beast which was still dazzled by it's prey's reflexes was now left wide open for an attack which Rodney appreciated.
He made a slash vertically towards the beast from a distance of about 10meters.
A white line with a bit of black in it left from the sword and fell the head of the beast instantly as it made contact.
What Rodney was using right now was CHI.
It was what his sword was coated in and right now, what left his weapon.
"This.....I can feel the power behind that attack, and the speed as well....it's really improved my attacks" Rodney said as he was clearly amazed by the attack.
After witnessing the last attack performed by it's prey, it felt threatened...no... it felt like the prey and it's survival instincts kicked in immediately but it's beast pride didn't allow it to run instead it charged in but a lot slower than the others.
Rodney tightened the grip on the hilt of his blade as he narrowed his eyes, locking them on the beast in front.
"You tried to kill me.....you beasts tried to stop me from seeing her so I'll make you all pay" he said with a killing tone with the anger on his face visible.
"Game....on!!"he shouted as he made a slash once more, this time with the black energy almost the same size as the white.
————
At the other side of the jungle, Yang stood looking straight in a random direction.
"Maybe I shouldn't have left him all alone. What if...no I should go back" Yang said out loud and turned to return then right in front of him was someone with a sword in his hand and a black blood clothed body but still with a smile. Then with the other hand, this person tossed over three objects at him which was also covered in blood and Yang with out having to touch it knew what they were. Then looking at the bloodied person who had a smile plastered on his face even with the blood and torn clothes, he knew this smile from anywhere.
"Rodney" Yang said still staring at the other.
"You were going to come back for m...." Rodney managed to say before falling to the ground and passing out.
Authors note ( would do us a lot of good if we can get some comments down below. And don't forget to rate the novel and give your review. And also please don't forget to vote).
The sequel to this novel is available on webnovel now.please check out Dark Gene : Rebirth
Thank you all.