For Valkorion, this was rather different because the second thing that his passive ability and Combat Proficiency enhanced after he became Beyonder of the Warrior Pathway was the Hakuda Martial Art.
Even before, it was something that he was rather proficient in because in his first life, he trained in several martial arts, and the concepts that the Hakuda was built on were similar to some of his past life.
Valkorion mobilized all the power that remained in him, as he struck toward the Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear in full force, delivering a swift kick to his stomach; as immediately afterward, he punched the Mutated Bugbear into the areas where his kidney was supposed to be.
Not wasting any moment, he created distance between himself and the Mutated Bugbear, when he noticed that the creature was attempting to grab him and smash him onto the ground, as he was still wary of the physical strength of the Mutated Bugbear.
In the end, it was a monster that managed to achieve Sequence 7 and even underwent some sort of mutation, which means that if it was fighting against another Sequence 7 Bugbear, then the Mutated One would win for sure in all occasions and under all circumstances.
For the monsters, the mutation was something that happened only very rarely; most often, it happened when the monsters were advancing in the Sequences, but sometimes, they were either already born mutated or mutated randomly while not even attaining Sequence 7 and becoming true Extraordinary Creatures.
If the Mutated Extraordinary Creatures were allowed to mature, they would become really fearsome beings capable of terrorizing the entire regions or becoming the dooms of the entire nations.
Valkorion sent a kick toward the sword that was still stabbed in the neck of the Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear, but unfortunately, the monster was faster and managed to dodge. Still, he didn't falter in his attempts, and just a moment later, he executed the same move once again, though this time, he had more success as he managed to hit the sword with a powerful kick.
Instantly, the sword moved deeper into the creature's neck as more and more blood gushed out, and the Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear slowly fell onto the ground. Valkorion looked at the creature rather warily and remained at a safe distance as he planned to let the Bugbear die from bleeding out.
This time, he wasn't taking any chances with the enemy because he had some hunch that the Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear still had a trump card in his sleeve and that he didn't use all of his abilities during the fight.
He didn't know if it was just paranoia or something different, but he was rather cautious this time compared to the previous one, when he, technically speaking, allowed the Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear to activate his ability.
After several moments, he was observing the Bugbear, and he noticed that the monster's eye color was changing. He didn't really know what was happening to the Bugbear, but he knew that the monster was activating some sort of last-resort ability.
In almost an instant, he appeared near the Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear; with all of his remaining power, he drew out the sword from the neck of the creature, and with one powerful swing, he severed his head from the neck.
He didn't know the reason why he acted this fast, but he knew that it was needed, or else the Bugbear would activate some sort of troublesome ability once again.
As the head of Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear rolled down somewhere, Valkorion noticed that, unfortunately, his sword didn't survive the exchange. The weapon was cracked all around the blade, and some of the cracks were rather big; he knew that this weapon had already become a piece of scrap metal that couldn't be used anymore.
"Dammed fucking, fucking thing..."
Valkorion fell to one knee, and he coughed blood, a lot of blood; this forced him to exert a lot of power, and all of the stress on his body was something that he couldn't really handle very well due to the previous injuries that he sustained from the fight with the Bugbear.
Right now, he was feeling terrible, and this was probably the worst state that he was in since he became an adventurer. Never before had he been in such rough shape, but never before had he encountered such powerful and dangerous foes as Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear.
Yet, even though he was in bad shape, he felt an unnatural amount of satisfaction from the victory over the Bugbear and the second Extraordinary Creature that he had faced in his entire life, as previously he had mostly avoided them if possible.
Outskirts of the Painted Mountains were relatively safe for ordinary people, and there were a lot of non-Beyonders in them, especially adventurers.
Most of the adventurers that were coming to the Painted Mountains were not really Beonders; many were just former soldiers or legionaries who were searching for a way to make quick money, some were professional adventurers, and there were also a lot of sellswords who were fulfilling tasks for the rich and power in the form of searching for something concrete within the Painted Mountains.
There were a lot of occasions when Low Sequence Extraordinary Monsters were dealt with by ordinary people without any help from Beyonders.
Even this Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear could be dealt with by a well-trained squad of soldiers or Legionaries as the creature had mostly passive abilities and enhanced physical strength, endurance, and regeneration.
Basically, anything that couldn't be brought down with superior weapons and numbers.
That was it.
"It seems that you are in pretty rough condition..."
Valkorion heard the familiar voice of Ashe, who arrived at the plateau shortly after his fight with Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear ended and looked at him with a mocking gaze and half admiring that he managed to kill the creature on his own.
She herself wouldn't be able to kill it head-on without employing some traps and some of her Beyonder Abilities. Ashe knew that Valkorion was Sequence 7 Warrior and that he didn't really have some powerful Beyonder Abilities, so it was even more intriguing that he managed to beat Sequence 7 Mutated Bugbear that already had several Extraordinary Aibliiteis.
Either from being Extraordinary Creuture or from the Mutation itself that the Bugbear underwent.
"Here, drink this... you would get better in no time..."
Ashe then reached into her backpack and brought up a small vial that was filled with crimson liquid. It was one of the better Healing Potion that were manufactured by the Valyrian Blood Mages.
Valyrian Freehold was famous for its Blood Magic, and there were a lot of Beyonders who dabbed in Blood Magic as they were on Pathways, which gave them a lot of abilities and skills in this regard.
Some of the most powerful Healing Potions could heal even someone who was half-dead already, but this one was rather average, albeit of a better grade than the rest that Valkorion had seen in the Catharys.
Something that certainly cost a good number of Gold Coins.
Reluctantly, he took the Healing Potion; even though he hated being in someone's debt, the best thing would be for him if it could repaired with money, not with favors; that was the most problematic thing for Valkorion.
Still, he needed to continue deeper into the Painted Mountains, and in his current state, even returning back to the Cattharays was rather a big risk. He never spent money on such things as Healing Potions because they were rather costly, and he invested in other things.
Primarily in things that could increase his power and skill.