'What would Joel do?'
'What will the Fate Destroying Emperor do?'
'What is the fat man doing?'
Epiphany!
'The fat man is fighting, that is what he is doing!'
'He is fighting despite warning us about fighting a beast that is a tier stronger than us just to make sure that the Tiger doesn't threaten us, his students'.
'Then, what will Joel though? Fight? Probably'.
'Then what will the Fate Destroying Emperor do?'
At that moment in time, Ramon had a flashback to when he was 5.
That unforgettable moment when he snuck into the patriarch's library and watched the crystal recording of the Fate Destroying Emperor's last moments.
'The so-called astral authorities claim to keep the peace in the world, but who cares about peace in a world of astral travelers?'
'This is a world of violence!' He grinned.
'Astral travelers…, we thrive in violence'.
Ramon's eyes gleamed, this was the epiphany that he needed.
"Danger?" He grinned. "That's for cowards!"
"Astral travelers thrive in violence!"
He looked down again at the stampeding beasts panicking and running everywhere beneath his hideout, and he no longer saw danger, rather he saw something entirely different and more optimistic.
He saw a mountain of moving contribution points waiting for him to harvest.
"For men? Opportunity!"
Ramon saw opportunity!
"Hahahaha!" He felt his blood boil recklessly.
He laughed but due to the stampede, no beast heard him.
"Hehehe!" Adrenaline flooded him, then…
Whoosh!
Ramon flipped over from the pine tree, his hideout, he went on a free fall.
Directly beneath him at this moment, he already identified another high-tier Legionnaire Stage Beast that was running helter skelter in panic.
Another beast that was a level higher than him.
If the HOD could fight one despite being at the Commander Stage after all his emphasis on how much stronger beasts grew as their realms grew, what was stopping him from doing the same and even going the extra mile?
He grinned. "You are mine!"
"Astral Sword Technique: Quick Draw!"
BAM!
Before the wild Hog could tell what the heck was going on, golden energy erupted, the sword was drawn, and the deed was done.
Ramon killed another high-tier Legionnaire Stage Beast.
He killed it in one blow!
The beast could not even tell what came for it before it died.
He stored the body in his space ring.
"…!" The surrounding beasts were startled.
At this moment, surrounding him were all manner of beasts, including 3 mid-tier Legionnaire Stage Beasts who were also in the process of escaping in panic.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Engulfed by his golden energy, Ramon's legs became rapid as he mimicked someone's ability that he once fought in the combat ring, Ray's astral technique.
He used this to evade the stampeding beasts even as he watched with predatory eyes in search of his next prey.
From the moment of landing, beheading the Hog in one slash, and storing his prey, Ramon spent less than 2 seconds even as the stampede continued yet he already went on his next attack.
"Astral Sword Technique: Dual Blades!"
Bzzz!
Golden energy erupted as a second golden sword formed alongside Ramon's sword, swinging on a downward slash that he executed with his real sword.
His real sword cut a mid-tier Legionnaire Stage Wild Dog, crippling it, while the golden energy sword dealt the killing blow, relieving its neck of the burden of its head as the dog saw eternal rest.
He stored the body in his space ring.
"Battojutsu Sword Technique: Slicing Mountain; Thrusting River!"
It was a gigantic Python this time, a high-tier Legionnaire Stage Beast.
Its specialty was immense speed as an ambush predator, wrapping up and constricting prey before they could react but, in this stampede, its greatest strength was nullified.
Taking advantage of his small frame to wriggle through the stampede, before the Python could react, a slash came, quickly followed by a deadly stab.
The Python still didn't die but at this moment, Ramon was already in the zone state due to excitement of having received epiphany from his mentor.
Whoosh!
His sword sliced repeatedly like the flowing rivers of Babylon.
The Python could not react before it was sliced to pieces. And just as he was to be engulfed by the stampede, storing his new kill in his space ring, Ramon jumped and landed on top one of the escaping beasts.
Jumping from one beast to another, he soon located his next prey.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The apocalyptic energy eruptions of the other battle between the instructors and the Siberian Tiger went on, but they only served to cause the beasts more panic, providing the real ideal battlefield for small Ramon to thrive.
Just a few seconds later, he saw his next prey and not just anyone.
'Finally! A beast under the destruction law!'
'Killing them will grant me even more contribution points'.
It was a Rot Centipede, a peak tier Legionnaire Stage Rot Centipede.
On a normal day, having been taught of the dangers of astral beasts in the wild, Ramon would never take on a peak tier Legionnaire Stage Beast alone no matter how reckless he was but today was different.
Against a Commander Stage beast's aura, this fellow also reacted in panic, escaping frantically alongside the others.
His panic was Ramon's once in a lifetime opportunity.
Focusing his golden astral energy on his legs, he accelerated rapidly, arriving behind the Rot Centipede and before it could react, he used Sword Draw.
BAM!
Compared to all of Ramon's previous opponents, the skin of this beast was far tougher, and it had dozens of sturdy legs to retaliate and fight back.
The name Centipede literally meant 100 legs; they were not called that for nothing as this beast retaliated aggressively.
At the Legionnaire Stage, a Rot Centipede was still very much restricted in terms of versatility, still its affinity for decay energy enabled it to produce a corrosive gas that decomposes anything that comes in touch with its body.
It tried to touch Ramon countless times but Ramon was on guard against it from the beginning having been warned about this beast ahead of time.
The battle this time lasted minutes against the Centipede's many legs.
Each swing of his sword and Ramon could feel Sword Breaker vibrating to his movements, the sword felt even more excited with each swing.
It would take more than the normal attacks to win against this astral beast.
This was when Ramon felt it, another epiphany.
'Quick Draw relies completely on speed, it's the only way I can injure the Centipede yet using it repeatedly drains my astral energy'.
'What if, I can mimic the speed of Quick Draw with my normal attacks?'
'All I need is a little sacrifice of astral energy to make it happen?'
'A weaker Quick Draw but with lesser astral energy drainage, is it possible?'
Ramon was not really the thinking type, he tried it as soon as the thought came and as he did, his instincts told him to hold his breath.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Normally, in combat, with each attack, breathing takes a few milliseconds of time, making the brain slow down and reset for the next attack.
But, at this moment, led by his instincts to hold his breath, Ramon was able to achieve an incredible feat where he attacked with his sword non-stop.
By holding his breath, there was no hesitation, no breaks between his attacks.
They came non-stop and rapidly.
2 seconds later, Ramon sliced the Rot Centipede to pieces.
He was stunned. 'I killed it!'
Ramon almost could not believe it, he remembered Mr. Patrick's words.
'Unlike humans who wait till their 10th birthday, beasts gain the ability to absolve astral energy into their bodies just an hour after their birth, hence why most mothers defend their young ones just for that one hour of total vulnerability'.
'This advantage makes beasts' bodies to be stronger than humans'.
'This is the advantage of astral beasts and it increases as the realms increase. With each realm breakthrough, the physical might of a beast becomes countless times more powerful'.
'We humans compensate with our intelligence and our astral techniques but most times than not, it is not enough'.
'At the Legionnaire Stage, battling alone against a same-tiered astral beast is immensely dangerous".
'Battling an astral beast with one tier higher than you is almost suicide'.
'Battling an astral beast 2 tiers higher than you is suicide!'
'Only freaks even attempt it'.
Ramon grinned. "Am I a freak?" He laughed heartily.
By now, Mr. Patrick despite being focused on his battle already noticed the meddling brat. 'That fool!'
Yet, he was occupied, he could not go stop the little boy.
20 minutes later, this part of the wilderness finally became a bit deserted as most of the panicking beasts already fled to other regions to hide.
No student could be seen either, including the stubborn brat.
"Let's retreat!" Mr. Patrick yelled at his support.
"In 40 more minutes, if the Siberian Tiger stops protecting its young ones, our lives will be in danger, this is our time to retreat".
With that, they finally retreated.
What they didn't know was that a certain opportunistic was yet to leave.