*Tick!*
It was a faint sound, but the all cautious William managed to detect it. He already walked through the deeper parts of the forest for half a day. Encountering many monsters that were mostly bronze grade and few silver grade made his guard always raised.
But he didn't try to kill any monster. He wanted to first locate the one he needed. Even if he couldn't kill it, he would assess its strength and abilities and then retreat fast before getting killed.
He didn't have it all nice at all. He had to run for his life a few times and was this close from using his weapons a couple of times already.
He didn't dare to start a fight as he feared the sound of battle and smell of blood would attract more monsters. He didn't want monsters to flood his path, or else he'd end up dying no matter how he tried.
Not to mention he didn't know the terrain here. So, if things went wrong, he'd not be able to run away in time. He might even run into more monsters while trying to escape.
In brief, he decided to evade all monsters until he'd face something he'd be forced to fight, or he'd find his target.
As he heard that subtle sound, he ducked on the ground and protected himself by the long weeds around like he used to do every time he met a monster. Darkness already prevailed in the world, but this didn't stop William.
He used his ears to locate the monster and get more information about it. 'From the pattern of its moves, it must be an agility based monster,' he assessed the monster by the places it emitted sound from.
The monster seemed to notice William, as it was moving in a wide circle surrounding him. 'Trying to get me when I'm unprepared? A cunning monster indeed.'
Monsters in bronze grade held a little level of intelligence. But it was enough for them to gauge their targets. They might not be this easy to kill thanks to their high alert and ability to assess the strength of their foes.
But this monster felt different. It showed the intelligence of silver grade monsters. If not being near the outer zone of the forest, William might mistake it for being a higher grade monster.
'Will it be the one I'm looking for?' thinking about that raised the level of excitement in his heart. William met silver monsters before, but they were all unsuitable for him. And he ended up disappointed many times already.
As he waited, the sounds kept getting closer. 'Being impatient already? That's a normal thing for such a silver grade monster like you,' he inwardly sneered while tightening the bow in his hand.
The bow was a totally curved one, made out of red wood and supported with a few thin plates of light ores. William closed his eyes and focused entirely and listened attentively to that monster's moves.
He would never underestimate a bronze grade monster, not to mention a silver one like this dude here. If he couldn't escape at the right moment, he'd use his arrows to buy himself time before finding a way out.
He was worried about the agility of this monster. Speed blessed monsters were this hard to shake off, and he was lucky to not meet something like that except this time.
In time the monster got closer to him, he already figured out its moving pattern. It was jumping from a spot to another ten metres away, always in curves and not straight lines.
The monster seemed to have feathers that emitted subtle noises while moving. William knew a lot of monsters like this, so he needed to first see his target before deciding its kind.
Without the need to say, he knew he couldn't run away this time without a fight. From the speed that monster showed, William knew he'd be outrun if he depended solely on his legs to run away.
The monster was this fast and it was just trying to surround him. If a battle erupted, then that monster would show a higher level of speed.
William started to ready himself for this battle. He was fortunate enough to evade fighting for half a day already. But his luck seemed to run thin at this moment.
He hoped it'd be one of the two types of monsters he was looking for. Even if he ended up killing it and it wasn't suitable, he would just absorb its core and raise his spirit power.
As for the smell of blood, he'd have to run away fast enough and pray the battle here wouldn't attract many monsters.
"Got you!" Once the monster became closer than fifty metres, William didn't wait any longer. His bow could release arrows for a hundred metre distance at least. So, he still had a buffer zone to hit that monster before running away.
*Fwoosh!"
Just as he released his arrow, he stood up, opened his eyes wide, and a candle of light was thrown the next moment. The arrow travelled fast, and it seemed to startle the monster as it didn't expect its prey to fight back.
"Roar!"
This time it was a unique thunderous roar. William didn't even need the help of the green light of the candle to determine this monster's kind.
"The nightfall lightning fox… Damn! I ended up meeting such a relative to you, old fox," Instead of panicking, William was laughing in pure excitement.
His prayers were answered this time, as that fox was just perfect for his needs.
This monster hailed from the fox clan, but it came as a variation between foxes and lightning birds. So, it was normal to have feathers on its body, a mix between dark and lightning spirits.
Instead of the small physique known for foxes, this one was more like a cheetah. William looked at his foe while the arrow he released just flew fast towards it.
But with such a roar, a strange light emitted from its mouth, dazzling to the eye, pure milky white in colour. In an instant it slammed against the arrow, smashing it into pieces.
"Not going to fall easily, aren't you?" Despite this coming as a surprise to William, he instantly reacted. That attack from the fox monster wasn't just aimed to stop his arrow, but it also covered the remaining distance and went towards him as well.
Such a monster showed another variation. That attack seemed to carry the element of lightning and light, making that fox monster a hybrid type monster. Hybrid monsters were strong and vicious, which explained why it showed such intelligence while being only silver grade.
*Fwoosh!* *Fwoosh*
This time William demonstrated his vast fighting experience. That monster wasn't the only one with quick reflexes, William also was.
The moment that light attack appeared, William jumped to the side instantly to evade it. At the same time, he took out two arrows and released them in succession, one towards the monster, and the other to the left side of it.
"Roar!"
Another light attack fell and the arrow heading directly towards the monster got destroyed.
As for the other arrow, the monster didn't give it any heed. It seemed the monster mistook William's actions for his attempt to close any escape route on it. Or just a preemptive move from William, future reading its next moves and aiming at that spot it would jump at next.
But it underestimated William!
*Boom!*
Using the weak spirit connection with that arrow, William diverted its course at the last moment. The arrow strangely arched midair before slamming heavily on the unprepared monster.
Then a loud explosion occurred.
The efforts of William weren't wasted. Just from the size of the exploding fireball, William knew if this monster wasn't killed, then it would be heavily injured.