"That's more like it," Alex grinned, feeling multiple monstrous gazes land on him.
All around him were monsters, and each and every one of them was at level 5.
Despite being surrounded by a horde of level 5 monsters, a situation that would make any average level 4 wet their pants, Alex maintained an easygoing smile on his face.
"I've heard that bottling up negative emotions isn't healthy. It's better to let them out," Alex stated nonchalantly, his voice so relaxed it was almost like he was talking about the weather. "And hey, I've been suppressing my emotions for hours now, so I'm kinda glad you all dropped by."
Alex shot the monster a thankful grin. "Thanks to you, I'll be able to vent, but..."
Alex's grin wavered, his tone turning slightly ominous, "...but you lot ain't cutting it. To really let loose, I'd need the other three hiding to show their faces."
After his fight against the monkey, he had come to realize that monsters at level 5 were able to understand what he said, or at least understand the meaning of his words, for example, we can take what happened seconds ago. Once Alex said that he knew that there were some of them hiding, those hiding revealed themselves.
However, in the current scenario, despite Alex dropping hints that he was onto three other monsters playing hide-and-seek, none of them emerged, making one doubt if Alex wasn't just spouting nonsense.
However, Alex was certain that there were three other monsters hiding, ones much more powerful than the ones he was currently facing.
After the last enhancement, his senses had become so sharp that even now, despite being separated by hundreds of meters, Alex could still sense the convoy. So, how could he not feel three monsters hiding in his immediate surroundings?
"Well, I guess if you don't won't-"
"Human... you talk... too much," a hoarse and raspy voice interrupted Alex.
Peering towards the source of the voice, Alex spotted an insectoid creature standing upright on two spindly legs.
The creature measured about two meters in length, its entire body encased in a glossy, green chitinous exoskeleton. It boasted four elongated arms extending from its torso to its legs, each tipped with razor-sharp claws that gleamed brightly whenever touched by the sun's rays.
"Come... and... fight!" the insect-like creature rasped once more, its voice akin to scraping needles against Alex's eardrums.
Alex stared at the insect for a moment and nodded.
With a swift step, he appeared right in front of the creature. Before it could react, Alex's fist tore through its hard chitinous exterior, piercing straight through its head. Extricating his fist, Alex allowed the creature's body to fall to the ground.
"This guy was right, we're not here to chat," Alex's gaze sharpened, "but you've got it all wrong. We're not here to fight. We're here so I can blow off some steam, and your role here is just to be my punching bag, nothing more, nothing less."
As he uttered these words, an aura of raw power emanated from Alex's body and swept over the surrounding monsters, sending shivers down their spines.
As Alex had mentioned, he had been bottling up all his negative emotions for quite some time now.
It might seem like nothing significant happened, but during the last few hours, Alex had been constantly forcing himself to calm down, and right now, all the emotions he had been suppressing were threatening to burst forth.
He felt scared by the dark mist, almost making him want to run away. Then, he was mad because he couldn't stop the black heart from messing with him. Plus, he worried about what the black heart enhancement price might be. On top of that, he felt anxious about his soul possibly exploding.
There was also the stress of being a good leader, and even though he wouldn't say it, he felt pressured about the upcoming heir competition. He had this nagging feeling that he needed to be the strongest before he faced it.
To top it all off, he was very, very frustrated sexually.
All of those emotions kept piling up, and then those monsters appeared. The perfect target for him to release all his pent-up frustration and anger.
And he did unleash all of his pent-up emotions, especially his anger, on these monsters.
With that unleashed fury, carnage ensued.
***
"Where is Alex?" Grace inquired as she landed right in front of Amelia and Anna.
They had just escaped the forest and returned to where their carriage with the pegasi was when Grace appeared in their line of sight.
"There were some people following us, so he stayed back to slow them down," Anna answered as she bowed to Grace.
"Oh, I see, then I will go get him," Grace said before rising into the air.
In what felt like a split second, she disappeared from the sight of the two women.
"Tsk, not even bothering to ask how I'm doing," Amelia pouted.
"Stop acting like a spoiled brat and let's descend," Anna reprimanded as she walked towards the carriage.
Since they left the carriage at a higher altitude, Amelia and Anna had to climb back up to retrieve it before descending once again.
****
"That should be over there," Grace remarked, noticing a corner of the forest where a fight seemed to be unfolding.
Alex had already warned her about the illusion cast on the forest, so it didn't affect her, but quite frankly, even if he hadn't mentioned the illusion, it was doubtful that it could deceive her senses. An illusion cast on such a large forest couldn't fool her, or at least not easily.
As she descended and beheld the battlefield, a stunned expression appeared on Grace's face.
Just below her, the scene was nothing short of chaotic and extremely brutal.
Bodies lay twisted and contorted, entrails strewn across the ground, amid the heavy stench of blood permeating the air. Haunting echoes of agonized screams seemed to reverberate from the depths of the forest. Amid this grim scene, a lone figure stood at the center, huffing and puffing, trying to catch it's breath.
If it weren't for the fact that she knew it was actually Alex, Grace might have doubted that the figure was human at all. Alex's smoke attire was completely drenched in blood, the vibrant colors that usually shimmered now obscured by the crimson stains.
'These monsters, they were all level 5,' Grace slightly frowned when she sensed the aura emanating from the monsters corpse.
She knew that upon reaching level 5 and gaining a bit of intelligence, monsters became hard to find, let alone killing them. Yet here she was witnessing a whole horde of them, and shockingly, all those level 5 monsters got obliterated by a level 4?
But then, she remembered what Alex had told her about the lust artifact, and him killing so many level 5 monsters kind of made sense, although she still found it astonishing.
"My, my, you've truly grown stronger," Grace teased as she gracefully landed on a branch just above Alex, the strong scent of blood seemingly not bothering her.
Looking up, Alex witnessed a gorgeous woman with silver hair and beautiful gray eyes that shone with a mischievous glint. She stared back at him, a sweet smile gracing her face.
She wore a white and elegant dress that gracefully hugged her curvaceous body. A slight slit at the bottom of her dress revealed her wide and smooth hips.
The moment Alex's gaze met Grace's, he felt a profound desire welling up inside him.
Forcibly tearing his gaze away from her alluring figure, Alex dissipated the smoke mantle enveloping him, revealing his bare and toned torso.
He took a deep breath and attempted to chase away all the perverted thoughts about his grandmother that were currently running through his head, a task that proved to be hard as those thoughts continued to flow through his mind like a persistent stream.
During this battle, Alex had managed to vent and release his frustration and anger, just as he wanted.
However, that wasn't the case for his sexual frustration, which still lingered very prominently.
Grace jumped down from the branch, landing right in front of Alex with the tree's trunk just behind her.
Placing a finger on his torso, Grace spoke in a seductive tone, "Your body has also developed quite nicely. You are probably much more powerful than your father was at the same level."
She paused for an instant, then added, her voice carrying a tempting tone, "Now, imagine how much stronger you would be if you were to do it with me~"
BAM!
Alex's fist tore through the tree's trunk, his arm passing barely a few centimeters away from Grace's face.
An annoyed glint shone in Alex's eyes when he saw the teasing smile forming on her lips after his action.
He knew very well what Grace was doing. Much like the last time, she was just teasing him; she enjoyed it. He knew it was the case because he had inherited his habit of teasing people from her.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind her teasing, but right now, he was very on edge and was practically restraining himself from pouncing on her. Her words weren't helping him in the slightest.
"I'm not in the mood for your teasing, Grace," he said with a huff.
"Grace? Not grandma? I see that your strength is getting to your head," Grace remarked, the teasing smile on her face widening a little bit. "You are not strong enough to call me by my name, although it might not be the case if you accept to-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Alex did something that completely caught Grace off guard.
Swiftly lowering himself, Alex sealed his lips against Grace's, pulling her curvaceous body towards his own.