"Area 10," Nathan said while looking at Riya.
"Alright," Riya replied. She brought a teleportation orb and gave it to Nathan.
"Upper rank beasts won't give me much trouble," Nathan thought while walking back to his room.
In the past few days, nothing much happened. Training continued as usual but the only thing that changed were the stares Nathan received.
He now had six stars on the back of his uniform which signified that he was now a high rank gifted.
This increased the stares he received. Evaine also glared at him more coldly but he didn't let it bother him.
The nightmares he usually had also stopped and he didn't know if he should take it as a good or bad sign.
After discussing with Siena, he found out that the entrance gate to the royal castle in the vampire realm has the symbol of a red cloud with lightning.
Everything that was happening was certainly "vampire related" but there was nothing he could do about it.
He still had Flora to look for and even his parents whose conditions were unknown but he still stood firm in his decision.
His family first before any vampire issues.
With no other clue on what happened to him that night, he decided to let it be.
Since the training matches took place, he hadn't seen Ken again but he still kept an eye out.
Nathan entered his room and locked the door before wearing his chest plate and he put his sword on his waist.
Declan, Lena and Joey did not follow him this time because they were all trying to create skills and even if they wanted to follow him, he wouldn't have agreed.
Even before today, he decided that he would go to area 10 alone. He wanted to see how well he would fare against upper rank beasts on his own.
Lena gave him her space ring to keep the body of the beasts he'll kill and he wanted to reject it but he thought about it.
Without any means of storage, he'll have to wait for beasts to come to his location so that he can teleport all of them at once and he also didn't want his room to get bloodied.
After unbinding her ability energy from the ring, he accepted the space ring which put a smile on her face. She was very happy that she could help her "saviour" even though she couldn't follow him.
Without hesitation, he pressed the button and he disappeared from the room.
Nathan opened his eyes found himself in a grassy terrain. The only thing he could see was grass everywhere. The length didn't go above his knee.
"I don't see any panther," Nathan thought.
Atrocious Panthers resided in area 10 and they were upper rank beasts.
Nathan was confident that he could defeat them with his elemental and vampiric skills.
After some seconds of walking, he saw a black panther coming from the distance.
Immediately the panther got closer, Nathan's watch beeped and the rank of the panther appeared.
Upper rank atrocious Panther.
Nathan dashed towards the panther with his sword ready to strike.
*ROARRRR*
The panther roared after noticing Nathan. It opened its mouth and sent a dark spike towards Nathan.
*CLANG*
Nathan deflected the spike with his sword and immediately lunged at the panther.
The panther leaped back a little to dodge Nathan's slash and swung its right claw.
Since the panther was a little bit bigger than Nathan, its claw carried alot of force.
Nathan didn't leap back, instead, he summoned an earth shield on his left hand to block the panther's claw.
The earth shield shattered but Nathan already swung his sword towards the panther's left eye.
*RAGHHH*
The panther roared in pain. Taking that as an opportunity, Nathan held his sword like a dagger and stabbed the panther's head.
The panther's skin was tough but Nathan's upper rank sword was able to pass through it.
The panther gave off one last breath before dying.
[You have killed a atrocious Panther]
[You have gained 70 points]
[Points needed to level up: 70/1000]
"70 points, upper rank beasts really give more points," Nathan thought.
He touched the blue-colored space ring which let out a small glow and then, he touched the panther's body.
The panther's body was immediately stored in the space ring and Nathan continued moving forward.
It did not take long for Nathan to see four atrocious Panthers.
After seeing Nathan, they immediately rushed towards him.
Nathan raised his right arm towards the middle of he four Panthers that were rushing towards him.
Red energy started condensing in front of his palm and then….BOOM.
The blood orb travelled with immense force and hit the ground between the four Panthers.
Three of them managed to evade the orb but the last one got hit and was thrown away with force.
Even though they didn't die, Nathan achieved his goal of separating them.
He sent ten blood spikes towards the two on his left and then he dashed towards the one on his right.
Nathan held his sword with his left hand and swung it. The panther was able to defend itself but it didn't expect Nathan to throw a punch.
Nathan's threw a punch with his right fist that was covered with a rocky surface. The panther staggered backwards immediately the fist connected.
Nathan could hear the sound of the approaching Panthers that just finished destroying the spikes.
Without wasting time, he stabbed the panther in front of him, killing it instantly.
He turned back and saw that the Panthers were almost near him.
He summoned a fireball and threw it towards the first one and with his incredible speed, enhanced by his fire accelerate skill, he ran towards the second one.
Nathan was too fast for the panther to react on time. Its head immediately got cut off from its body.
Nathan also killed the one he attacked with a fireball. He walked today the last panther that wasn't too far from where he was standing.
"It would have been dead if it was a direct hit," Siena said.
"Hm..the orb touched only it's leg," Nathan said while looking at the panther that was missing one leg but was still breathing.
Nathan stabbed it and stored its body along with the rest before he continued walking.
Nathan killed more Panthers as he was walking. He glanced at the system screen to see the points he had.
[Points needed to level up: 700/1000]
Nathan stored the bodies in the space ring but he suddenly saw something that made him raise his head.
"This wasn't here before," Nathan thought.
Not too far from Nathan, there was a black-coloured portal…yes, a portal.
Suddenly, the force of the wind started increasing and the grasses were waving because of it.
Nathan started moving back as the force continued increasing.
"Tch ..why is this happening now?"
Nathan forced himself to continue moving but the wind seemed to have other plans. The force increased again and this time, Nathan slammed his foot on the ground to resist the force.
The wind affected everywhere because he could see the grasses in the distance waving frantically.
"Shit."
The increase in force was too much. The dirt on the ground was getting sucked in by the portal and Nathan was now slowly leaving the ground.
Even after trying his best to resist, the force was too much. The portal released a powerful sucking force and Nathan's body completely left the ground.
"Fuck…" Nathan cursed as he got sucked in by the portal.