Anthony was moving at a leisurely pace, jumping from tree to tree, sometime he ran on the ground, it's been 2 hours and all monsters he met he killed, none entertained him.
He sighed 'Is this what those novel characters feel like when they reach the absolute peak but boredom becomes their greatest enemy' he thought as he moved with pure grace
As he ran on the ground, a giant snake pounced out from one of the trees bearing it's fangs to bite him.
Anthony didn't even spare the monster a glance, he just raised his hand and slapped it's head which exploded to bits, it's large body dropped from the tree to the ground.
None of this slowed down Anthony's pace even by a fraction of second.
His aura was still at F- that's why all these weaker creatures keep attacking, but he just slapped them all to death
As he moved, his sight picked up something 2 kilometres ahead, he increased his speed and arrived in 5 seconds and landed in front of the monster.
"A human?" said the monster
Anthony was stunned too, he was looking at an orc, a genuine battle harden orc which was at the S+ rank from the aura it was releasing, it held a spear weapon which seems too advanced for an orc but possessing it spoke volumes of it's strength and could be only acquired one way, killing an S+ warrior.
Some S rank monsters are able of speak, as they develop their own art and techniques, their intelligence goes beyond their race, they are usually called an 'Awakened monster'
So any monster which can speak and has a weapon can definitely use techniques they were even more dangerous than SS rank monsters who don't have any, since they possess intelligence.
The orc observed Anthony and his weak aura and said, "Human I'm hungry you would have to do as food for now"
Anthony was excited, his first real battle, he was excited cause he was limiting himself to A+ rank so he would feel the thrill in fighting this monster while being a rank lower.
The orc then took a step and directly appeared Infront of Anthony and stretched it's hand to catch the weak little human.
Anthony was shocked, he expected a spear technique and art but didn't see a movement art coming, but he was still faster than the orc, so he leaped backwards, appearing further away.
Which stunned the orc that his weak little meal had such speed.
"It's seems you were faking all along human" the orc said as it spins it's spear in his hand.
Anthony was waiting, even with him restricting himself to A+ rank he can still move faster than the orc cause of his physique.
The orc suddenly appeared Infront of Anthony with a faster speed than before and thrusts his spear towards Anthony's heart.
Anthony calmly blocks with his sword, then he counter attacks by slashing at the right side of the orc, which the orc blocked with it's brute strength, but Anthony's sword broke.
Anthony immediately stepped back, looked at his sword and sighed, then looked at his system shop and bought what he really always fantasized about when fighting; A katana
[??? Katana: A katana created by ??? with a thought.
Effects:
1: Growth type: whatever rank it's owner reaches, it will reach
2: Disguise: The weapon can take any design the owner wishes
3: Indestructible: As a weapon crafted by ??? it can never be broken or chipped.
4: Can shape shift into other weapon
??? Current rank: Rank SS+]
He disguised the katana to have the same design as his just broken sword before taking it out
Then looked at the orc who was waiting for him to finish his business.
Anthony took a stance and said "Let's dance"
They both moved and clashed, immediately their weapons met an explosion occurred.
*Clank* *Clank* *Clank* *Boom**Boom**
They exchanged blows, this was just with pure physical strength they haven't even buffed up their body with mana.
The orc thrust at his heart again, Anthony moved to block, but the orc smiled, changing direction for his head; it was a feint, but who was Anthony, he already knew it was a feint but he played along.
Immediately he blocks the spear aimed at his head, the orc's eyes widens in surprise, but before he could even make the next move,
Anthony disappeared and appeared behind the orc with his katana dripping green blood and a rip and splurting sound followed, signifying the orc has just take a blow and is bleeding due to an injury.
The wound was vertical and ran across the chest to the shoulder.
The orc could tell that if Anthony wanted at that moment he could have taken his heart but he didn't.
The orc turned and looked at him and smiled again and said "I shall give you a befiting battle and burial as my thanks to you"
The orc, covered his body with mana, covered the spear with Aura which surprised Anthony that a monster could use Aura, he asked if this monster was from another race and was posing as an orc here.
If it was another person, they would have been afraid the moment they saw the weapon coated in Aura, as Aura could increase the sharpness and durability of any weapon and you must be talented enough to be able to wield Aura and also be at the S- rank at least, which also surprised Anthony that a monster was this talented.
Movement technique, spear technique, Aura, Anthony didn't take it as a monster anymore as this was a fellow warrior.
Anthony didn't bother coating his katana with Aura, as he is posing as an A+ rank and also the katana was already indestructible, he covered his body with mana, though he didn't need to as his physique could easily match and surpass the orge in speed and strength but he didn't need to show all cards to the people watching just to fight an orc and he also covered his katana with mana.
The orc that was still standing blurred and appeared Infront of Anthony and swung the spear diagonally with great force, Anthony blocked easily, the power from the swing of the spear left the mountain behind Anthony crumbling.
They both increased their speed and strength, exchanging blows.
The orc suddenly appeared behind Anthony
[Spear Technique: First Step: Rapid Gatling]
The orc thrusted his spear 25 times at all of Anthony's vital points, Anthony was already on the move to block the attack.
[Endless Technique: Katana Series: Constant Flow]
Anthony's katana moved at extreme fast speed and parried all 25 attacks, then he counter attacked at the same time
[Endless Technique: Katana Series: Continuous Slash]
Anthony's katana moved again, but with greater speed this time, as he slashed a hundred times in a second.
[Spear Technique: Fourth Step: Rock Stance]
The orc moved his spear to meet Anthony's attacks head on, he blocked 75 slashes but he couldn't increase his speed fast enough to block the rest, so he was injured, but he remained undeterred.
They continued exchanging attacks, laying wherever they appeared to waste.
Explosion rang continuously as they moved leaving only streaks of red light as they clashed.
They have been fighting for fifty minutes now but Anthony was unaware of this.
He was feeling whole at this moment, he felt one with his katana, he has trained and learned all knowledge his physique gave him and integrated them to his daily life, but he had never fought battle to actually feel complete.
Here he was in the zone in his first real battle, he didn't need to think of the next attack, he just attacked, he didn't need to think of the next move, his body automatically flowed peacefully with grace, he was in a mysterious state.
The orc already had a lot of injuries and should have been dead, but the tenacity and body of the orc race is something everyone understands as only Titans and Dragons could stand above them in pure physical strength.
Though the orc race don't occupy any domain on their own, everyone knew just how absurd the orc race body was, if they had a bloodline or higher intelligence to match this, they would have been at the top with the Dragons and Titans and all orc were natural fighters.
The orc changed the style of his attack, suddenly attaching fire to his Aura and spear and attacked with greater power, he could tell he was running out of time, so he increased power and speed to bring his opponent down with him, there was no draw, no running away, nothing, this was the way of their race.
He released his next technique, a technique he personally created through sheer talent, and he shall show it to his greatest opponent he has fought till date, for his name was 'Dreg'
[Spear Technique: Dreg Series: Explosive Spear]
Dreg jumped high in the air, and held his spear over his shoulder, and thrust with all his might.
A fire shaped spear mixed with aura shot out from the spear and moved at a neck breaking speed.
Anthony didn't need to think how to block the attack, his body and mana moved as if it was in tune with the world.
[Endless Technique: Katana Series: Splitting The Heavens]
He swung his katana upwards, leaving a faint blue line as it moved.
The katana split the fire spear into half, the halves landed on two side around him, creating a deafening explosion.
The forest shook at the might of their power, the orc was shocked that the human split it's attack in half, Anthony looked at the orc and said, "Since you have shown your personal technique, I will show you mine as a sign of respect, if you survive this, it's my loss".
Dreg immediately went on the defensive to brace for impact
Anthony took a step and appeared in front of the orc and swung his katana at the orc with lightning imbued in it.
[Null Technique: Katana Series: Razing Swing]
Dreg felt death for the first time since the battle started, but that won't make him take a step back.
He moved, releasing his ultimate technique, as this was a decisive moment.
[Spear Technique: Dreg Series: Cataclysmic wave]
He swung at Anthony with fire and aura coated on his spear, just like how Anthony swung at him with lightning coated on his katana
Their attack meet and there was a defeaning silence before everything within a two kilometre radius was reduced to ash and char.
Space shattered apart Infront of their attacks, earthquake resounded within a 10 kilometres radius, many monsters died due to the earthquake, dust rose in a mushroom form signifying the weight of their power
The dust from the attacks settled and the charred body of the orc was seen split in half and both half charred.
Anthony stood there for a while starring into space, he subconscious activated his skill 'The perfect one', anybody who saw him would think he was just looking at the body of Dreg the Orc, but his aura increased, flared before calming down two mintues later.
Anthony has broken through to the SSS- rank, he stabilized his rank and woke up from his mysterious state, he deactivated 'The perfect one' skill, and his aura was already back to the F- rank that he always shows
He looked at the Orc who battled him to this level, even if he didn't go all out or even use magic or need to even to use katana techniques and bowed at the warrior.
He looked at the time and saw only a few seconds were left, so he just stood there and waited, he didn't bother checking his ranking as the amount of A rank monsters he killed alone was greater in number than that killed by the top 10 combined.
After a few seconds, Anthony and all contestants were teleported out of the forest