Victor rolled on the sand a few times as he landed on his feet. Looking back with a frown, he saw a huge cloud of sand flying in the air as it slowly settled down. Meanwhile, a big hole was carved into the ground by something.
"What the hell is this?" Victor muttered as he went on high alert. He could feel that some kind of creature was behind that debris. But, he couldn't identify what it was. However, as the debris settled, the silhouette of the creature slowly revealed itself.
Stepping up, the silhouette slowly towered in height over Victor. Then, he saw it, in its full appearance. The creature was at least 3 meters in height, with wide wings sticking out of its body. Its feathers were dark black in color with sharp pointy edges.
Its head was similar to that of an albatross except far more… feral. It had a sharp beak, a pair of sharp red eyes, and a very threatening presence that made Victor immediately get into a fight stance.
'A monster?' He raised an eyebrow. 'Why did it fall like that? Was it targeting me?'
As his eyes inspected the monster, he noticed multiple bloody injuries across its giant body. Most of them looked like biting injuries. As if something had taken a chunk of flesh off the bird's body.
'It's injured… Well, that explains it… But still.' Looking up at the monster's eyes, he noticed that it was now looking at him.
Its red pupils flashed with bestial bloodlust. Victor didn't need any other signs to know that he was now its target. However, to give him bigger proof, the monster suddenly opened its wings wide and made a loud screech that almost burst Victor's ear.
Then, without warning, it rushed toward him on its feet. Its speed was surprisingly fast considering its state and it took the boy by surprise.
'Dammit!'
Without wasting time, Victor channeled the small amount of Runic Energy he had left in his body as he jumped back, barely dodging the monster's beak as it pierced the ground with ease.
Its head moved so fast that it appeared like a blur for the boy. The monster then pulled its beak out and rushed toward Victor. In a matter of seconds, he found himself as the target of a rain of attacks, aiming for his death.
The speed and accuracy of the attacks were awfully dangerous and Victor found himself at a complete disadvantage as he jumped and dodged the attacks to the best of his ability. His sharp senses, coupled with his battle knowledge helped a lot. But, he still found difficulties almost instantly.
'How do I even fight something like this?' He asked himself with a dark expression. 'It's moving way too fast.'
Looking at the monster, Victor searched for any possible points he can attack. But, due to its constant attacks, he couldn't have time to assess his options.
*BANG*
The beak pierced through the ground, and Victor jumped back a few feet to dodge it. However, at that moment, the monster did something different. When it pulled its beak out, it brought out a mouthful of sand along with it as it spat it out toward the boy.
'What?' Victor didn't understand what happened, but his body reacted on its own as it jumped to the side.
However, when he found himself away from the sudden attack, the monster had already lunged at him, anticipating that move. Victor's eyes flashed with a weird glint.
*BAM*
The monster bit his shoulder powerfully. Immediately, blood exploded from his body.
"AGHH!!" Victor clenched his teeth as he stared coldly at the monster. The latter tried to yank his arm off and swallow it. However, at that moment, the boy did something unexpected.
"Don't… test… Your luck!!" With a loud yell, Victor sent a palm strike, aiming for the monster's beak.
*BOOOOM*
Upon contact, the air around his fist rippled. Then…
*CRACK*
The beak cracked, sending a rush of sharp pain across the bird's body. Immediately, it opened its mouth with a pained look on its face. Victor felt intense numbness in his left arm that almost made him fall to the ground.
However, he didn't let that stop him as he rushed toward the monster and launched another strike aiming for its body.
*BANG*
The ripple sent the monster flying a few meters before falling limply on the ground.
"Hah… Hah…" Heaving up and down, Victor looked at his shoulder. 'Dammit, it really got me. This is a deep injury…' Cursing his stupidity, he looked at the monster again. The bird had blood leaking out of its beak, perhaps from the internal injury it just suffered.
However, that didn't seem to be a deadly blow as the monster stared daggers at Victor. The latter sucked in a deep breath and took a fighting stance.
'I don't think I can continue for long. My Runic Energy was already depleted as it is. These two attacks consumed too much!'
His situation was bad, but he knew that the monster was also in an equally horrible state, if not worse.
'Dammit, I need to deal the deadly blow in the next attack. I can't use the Ripple Runic Technique more than once.'
"GRAAA!!!"
As if it didn't give him time to think and plan, the bird lunged at Victor again with even more vigor than before. It seemed the injuries had the opposite effect on the beast. Instead of weakening it, it instead gave it a rush of strength that Victor didn't want to see at all.
Holding his breath, Victor's eyes flashed with a very cold light. Without realizing it, he unlocked a certain side of him that he didn't like much. The side that made him the killer he was and the monster that was feared by many.
Then, without a single moment of hesitation, Victor dashed forward, not trying to dodge the monster's beak. For a split second, things seemed to come to a halt for both of them. The two were barely a few inches away from each other.
But, it was clear that the bird had the range advantage. But, right before it made contact with Victor's injured shoulder, the latter suddenly halted and then jumped in the air. Then, he spun in the air before sending a flying kick at the bird.
*BANG*
The kick diverged the beak's direction and lost the bird's balance. Then, he landed and quickly dashed forward, closing the distance between them.
When he was close enough, Victor took a solid stance and launched a strong punch, aiming for the monster's injured chest. The attack held every single ounce of energy in Victor's body.
Without realizing it, he consumed whatever was left of his Runic Energy in that single attack. Naturally, the result was brutal.
Upon contact, Victor heard the ribs of the monster shatter as the ripple coursed through its entire body. Then, the monster was blasted back, falling on the sand, motionless. In a second, a huge puddle of blood formed around the monster's body.
"Hah… Hah…" Victor heaved up and down as he felt a strong headache assault his head. He swayed left and right before he shook his head.
'I need to check if it's really dead…' Clenching his teeth, he started slowly inching his way toward the monster while carefully eyeing every single part of it to make sure it didn't sneakily attack him.
By the time he got close enough, he had realized something surprising. Looking at the monster's chest area, he could see a big dent in it that was oozing blood.
"..." Victor's eyes widened slightly at the sight. He didn't realize that the attack he had delivered was that brutal. Then, his eyes slowly shifted to his bloody hand.
'A single punch was more than enough to do that… This Ripple technique… It's really strong.'
Even though Victor was certain that it was a very strong technique, he had no standard to measure its strength. So, seeing this happen was eye-opening, to say the least.
Still, in the end, Victor felt relieved that the bird was dead. That's when he felt his body succumb to the exhaustion as he fell to the ground. Staring at the sky, he tried to control his breathing and his raging heartbeats.
'That was awfully close. Far closer than I expected. I made many mistakes during this fight and I almost got myself killed. I can't let that happen again.'
Even though he won, Victor didn't feel that satisfied. He had realized that all the skills he gained fighting people, and even feral beasts didn't help much against the creatures of this world.
'What's the point of gaining power if I don't know how to use it?' Clenching his teeth, he sighed.
"Well, Ugh! I guess this shows that I have a lot of room to improve."
The good thing was that he survived and learned that he was far from ready to face strong monsters. 'I will definitely get accustomed to how the monsters in this world behave. But, it might take some time. For now, however.'
At that moment, he heard a clicking sound. Looking to the side, he saw his fishing rod moving as if it caught something.
"Time to get my dinner…"
A//N: Support the book with PS, boys!