[The hunt begins]

▽▽▽

...

-Growl...-

-Roaaaar!!-

Two enormous worms were currently fighting over a piece of meat from a giant corpse that had been left half-eaten by a bigger beast that probably killed it. Both of them were in a hurry as they both knew instinctively that soon other monsters would smell the corpse and try to eat it as well, leaving them with nothing at all...

The competition between both beasts soon intensified, as their nervousness and worry started heightening up due to them knowing that the other monsters were approaching. It was only after one of them slapped the other with its lower body, similar to using a tail, that the fight was finally over and both of them escaped the scene.

Or so they tried... soon after the victorious worm started digging a hole to escape from the scene, the defeated started digging one on its own as well, ready to escape from any further conflict. However, suddenly, as it buried its head to start digging, a sharp pain assaulted its back, making him release a pained howl.

-Graoooo!!!-

"Where do you think you are going?"

As the worm's head left the ground in a hurry and turned to look at the source of the pain with rage filling its insides, it managed to see a humanoid figure standing on top of him while using a sharp and shiny-looking object directly stabbing his back.

The eyes of the creature standing on top of him looked exactly like those from the predators it had always feared... The eyes of a hunter.

▽

▽

▽

...

"Did I make the right choice?"

A small muttering could be heard from above the worm.

'A creature of 94 power level... It could be said to be a pretty fair fight... Let's just hope that his lack of limbs will give me an advantage...' Ryu looked tensely at the worm below him, still unsure whether this guy had been the correct prey, but still adamant about fighting to the end if necessary, after all, conflict was now unavoidable. His eyes darting to look at his status window from time to time.

▽

≡[System bearer: Ryu Kain]

-Power Level: 98

-Z Points: 15

≡[Abilities]

-Ki mastery(F): 85%

-Martial arts (-): 0%

-Magical arts (-) 0%

≡[Skills]

▷Journey of the traveler (Passive)

▸Fate will bend against you.

▷Power level scan (Active)

▸Scans the power level of any being that is within your eyesight. Please note that Gods cannot be scanned unless the host possesses divine Ki.

▷Taiyoken/Solar Flare (Active)

▸Emits an incredibly dazzling beam of light that can blind the enemy due to its intensity.

[Advice: Please note that if the user emits the Taiyoken from a part of the body that is in the user's field of view, it is very probable that the user will be blinded too.]

≡[Inventory]

-Bottle of enhanced medicinal liquid. [37% left]

-Nutritional paste.

▽

"Well, It's probably better to die trying to live rather than dying because of starvation... Probably..."

-Roaaaaar!!!-

Like an unstoppable whip, the worm moved his body at an incredible speed and sent Ryu flying away. The sword, which had been the thing that Ryu had used previously to stab the worm, was also sent flying somewhere into the jungle.

'Fuck, I barely used it and it's already gone... I'll have to look for it later' Clicking his tongue, Ryu moved rapidly towards the blind spot of the worm and clutched onto him. Alarmed, the worm soon started moving chaotically and started trying to get Ryu off him somehow.

Without a word, Ryu soon lifted one of his arms and got ready to punch.

-Bam!!!-

Like a hammer striking meat, a pretty disgusting sound came from the insides of the worm as it recoiled in pain from Ryu's strike.

"Huh... Its body is weaker than I thought"

Instantly, a grin spread across Ryu's face, as he grabbed onto the body of the worm using only his legs, leaving his arms and fists completely ready for barraging the worm.

-Bam!!-

-Bam!!-

-Bam!!-

-Bam!!-

-Bam!!-

Like a beast in a trance, Ryu rapidly started hammering the insides of the worm with his fists while his legs grappled onto the worm's body with great force in order to not get sent away by the movement of the beast.

Blood could be seen coming out from the horrifying mouth of the worm as Ryu's punches wouldn't stop for any reason.

-Growl...!!!-

With anger boiling inside him, the worm's body moved rapidly towards a tree and slammed the part where Ryu was sitting against it with great violence, startling the concentrated Ryu who had not noticed such a thing at all.

-Crash!!!-

Breaking the tree apart, Ryu's body received a lot of damage from the impact, making his legs go limp for a second. Furthermore, seeing an opportunity despite also receiving damage from the impact, the worm soon moved his body like a whip and sent Ryu flying away at an enormous speed.

-Kuha!-

Ryu's body soon crashed against a nearby rock, forcing him to release a lot of air because of the damage on his back, making him dizzy for some seconds.

Fortunately for him, although the worm tried to use this opportunity to use its mouth and tear him apart, the damage he had occasioned on the worm's body stopped it from moving further and made it squeal in pain right where it was, unable to approach Ryu.

"What the fuck... I knew it was being too easy so far..."

As soon as Ryu's recovered from the hit, he noticed a new window pop up in the corner of his mission. Making him grit his teeth in anger while thinking about something...

▽

≡[New Side Quest‼]

▸Defeat your first enemy, and escape safely!

[Rewards for completing the quest successfully:]

▸+350 Ƶ Points

▸+30 of power level

▸+1 Bottle of enhanced healing liquid

▽

"Whoever is watching this... Are you fucking having fun seeing me struggle so much?" Kayn looked above at the sky before he then stood up and looked towards the worm. "Whatever, enjoy as much as you can before I become able to cross dimensions and I fucking go to kick your ass..."

(A/N: I will)

At that moment, Ryu placed both of his hands on top of his head with his fingers spread open, before he then closed his eyes and yelled with all his strength...

"Taiyoken!!!"

-Bang!!!-

-Gyaoooooo~!!!!-

As soon as Ryu yelled, an enormous beam of light enveloped the whole area, dazzling the worm immediately making it scream in pain due to its whole sight being suddenly filled with such an intense light.

Ryu's mind soon started moving at an incredible speed, his eyes, which were previously focused on the worm, rapidly started darting back and forth into the wilderness of the jungle surrounding both of them, seemingly looking for something.

Soon, however, a grin appeared on his face, as he instantly dashed towards a certain spot of the jungle, and turned into a black blur thanks to his incredible speed.

-Grrrr...!-

A few seconds after that, the worm managed to recover its sight, which immediately led it to start looking for Ryu, who seemed to have disappeared all of sudden.

-Ka-shiiiing!!!-

The sound of something cutting air suddenly reached the worm's ears, making it look hurriedly in that direction in an alert. Unfortunately, it was still a tad too late...

-Slash...!-

From one moment to another, Ryu appeared from behind it and slashed with all his strength at the upper part of the worm's body. Normally, considering that the worm had an incredibly resistant body despite having almost no bones in its body, even that slash couldn't be able to kill it, and would just cause some minor bleeding problems. However, something seemed to be changing in Ryu's attack, something incredible...

... His hands, which were gripping tightly onto the sword he had bought from the Z shop, suddenly started to shine with a white aura around them as the speed and pressure of the attack increased as well at that moment.

The worm couldn't even react before its body was cut in half from one moment to another. The new attack of Ryu had been so powerful, that it even left a small scar on the ground after cutting through the worm's body, just because of the air pressure created from his attack.

However, this attack had not come up without repercussions, as the tired look in Ryu's eyes soon came to view.

"Shit I almost have no ki left... Why is the mission not giving me my reward already? I need to leave this place soon!"

Trying his best to stay standing, Ryu looked at the mission window and started reading it once again, trying to understand why was he not receiving anything even though he had defeated the worm.

▽

≡[Side Quest‼]

▸Defeat your first enemy, and escape safely!

[Rewards for completing the quest successfully:]

▸+350 Ƶ Points

▸+30 of power level

▸+1 Bottle of enhanced healing liquid

▽

"Huh? It says "Defeat your first enemy, and escape safely"? That's strange, normally the missions provide me the escape option as an additional option for winning rewards... not an additional condition besides killing my enemy... What do I have to run away from in the first place?"

-Boooom!-

As if to answer Ryu's doubts, soon a huge shadow covered him as something enormous seemed to have landed right behind him.

Carefully turning around trying not to make any necessary movement, Ryu's eyes soon darted towards the figure and widened in terror at what he saw.

Behind him, an enormous vulture of the same size as the bear from a few days before could be seen overseeing him with a hungry look in its eyes. Black like night feathers covered its body and a beak that seemed to have been made specifically for tearing apart any kind of meat or threat. hanged on its face intimidatingly.

The analysis of its power level wasn't that encouraging either.

▽

°Unnamed Cathartes species°

-Power level: 376

▽

In disbelief, Ryu let out a wry laugh, as his look turned somber from exhaustion while he observed the enormous vulture watching him attentively.

"So this is what I have to run away from, huh?... My victorious feeling is already gone thanks to you..."

Without too much time to think about it, Ryu soon started running away without thinking it twice, startling the vulture and making it roar like crazy before going after him.

-Gyaoooooooooooo!!!-

...

-End of the Chapter-