—-

‘Pucht!’ ​​

The moment Apollo exited the cave, he caught sight of a single bear-type Spirit Beast. Wasting no efforts or time, he pounced as he brandished the Vantablack Knife. Being as it was a single Late-Stage Rank 1 Spirit Beast, it was dealt with in a few single stabs to its vital area.

Its experience wasn’t worth mentioning now that it required nearly 20,000 experience for Apollo to level up. Hence, he continued his pursuit in search of more victims. Unbeknownst to him, after ingesting those Demonic Essence Pellets, he was slowly becoming hellbent on finding victims of his ire.

In a short 10 minutes, Apollo had slain as many Spirit Beast as he would typically slay within a day. However, that was to be expected. After all, he was 3 times faster than before and his strength matched the material of the Vantablack Knife. To put it differently, he had finally become a force to be reckoned with amongst the low-level Spirit Beast community.

“This isn’t fast enough,” muttered Apollo. Although his speed was fast, it wasn’t up to his standard within his desires. The distance from completing the quest was right there. All it required was slightly over 1,000 more beasts to be dealt with.

[Oh? How much faster do you want to level? If you were a regular person I would advise against it. However, you are far from that. So by all means, unleash all your pent up desires and enjoy yourself.]

“I will definitely do so,” replied Apollo as he began utilizing the trees as springboards dashing above. Every couple of seconds he found a new target in which he swooped in on. Not only did he utilize his weapon, but he also engaged in hand to hand combat.

‘Hmm? My physique is on par with a Late-Stage Rank 1 Spirit Beast? Interesting,’ thought Apollo as his fist connected with the jaw of a Rank 1 Twin Fanged Wolf. Before, if he did so while inflicting damage he would also receive a small amount. However, this was no longer the case.

Naturally, this was because of his rapid advancement.

Shifting his eye back and forth between the wolves, Apollo smirked. He was in this situation before but now he thought nothing of it and even welcomed it. Dropping his defenses, Apollo went on the pure offensive.

‘Boom!’

A Twin Fanged Wolf’s body slammed against a towering tree as it lifelessly slid down it. Still in his kicking posture, Apollo twisted midair and stabbed his knife through another. Like butter, it pierced it; killing another.

All the while, his stamina was barely taking a hit. It only took 1-2 hits to kill these beasts now and as a result, he used his stamina more efficiently.

[It seems his repressed anger is showing. The way he is striking these beasts… It’s clear he only wants to kill.]

Azridan’s voice didn’t reach Apollo and instead seemed as if he was talking and evaluating the situation amongst himself. While doing so, the fervent bloodlust in Apollo’s eyes intensified the more he killed.

[Is he possibly awakening that trait? But it shouldn’t appear so early. Why would that happen? I have yet to teach him the divine method and he hasn’t touched the matters of his soul either. Could it have something with this body once housing two souls? Perhaps that is the case. After all, I remember sensing an indescribable anomaly before.]

“Awwoooo…woo…” pained whimpers escaped the mouths of Apollo’s victimized Spirit Beast. However, Apollo remained numb to the fact and treated them as simple sources of experience and an objective to clear.

[Yes…he is indeed awakening that trait albeit slowly but when it does…never mind. We’ll come to that in the future. Hopefully, the method I shall teach him will properly awaken it. Other than Saehtyn and myself, no one else has wielded it correctly in an uncountable number of years.]

‘Pucht!’

In an instant, Apollo dealt with and collected 10 Essence Cores from these beasts before moving along. His bloodsoaked appearance then headed into the territory of the Rank 2s. Subconsciously, he wanted a challenge. If he just sought to complete the quest, he would have returned to the outskirts and proceeded to wreak havoc amongst the Mortal Beasts.

However, two reasons existed why he didn’t: the population dwindled exponentially courtesy of him, cannibalism and other people performing training rites. As for the other, it was due to the fact that it was redundant to hunt them.

Why not kill two birds with one stone? After all, the system existed to rectify some issues that would otherwise plague other inattentive cultivators.

—-

Soon enough, Apollo came in contact with a cave. By then, Apollo has already killed over 200 Rank 1 Spirit Beasts in the span of a few hours; a number which slightly pleased him. However, Azridan warned him of what rested inside the entrance they stood before.

[Unlike the one before, this one houses at least 50 Spirit Beasts and this seems to be the bare minimum. Besides that, it also seems to have an increased number of activity taking place inside. Sadly, I’m not entirely sure what type of beasts they are, so remain vigilant.]

“Its spiders,” replied Apollo as he replied to Azridan’s comment.

[How do you know? They’re so deep underground even I’m unable to sense it. Granted, my abilities are based on you.]

“Call it a sixth sense, I was once afraid of them,” stated Apollo. The moment his eyes made contact, his skinned crawled slightly while a faint shiver ran down his back. It was a sign of fear. But as far as he remembered, only one thing invoked fear in him like this.

[Ah… so that’s how it is. I guess this is also a neat aspect for detection. Using your fear to ascertain what you’re up against. What a whimsical tactic.]

“Heh, it does feel like that,” chuckling at Azridan’s words, Apollo entered with paced steps. He also paused and asked Azridan a question that remained on his mind, “How do you sense things? I don’t understand. I don’t have what the books describe as perception.”

[That is wrong. You do. If not, you wouldn’t be able to manipulate Natural Essence. You simply lack knowledge of its usage and feeling. It’s like you said a sixth sense. A premonition of danger or even grasping what lays beyond you with your mind’s eye. Sadly, to do so… you need to awaken your Soul Temple. But even on the demonic level, you’ve yet to reach the baseline.]

“Ah… so I do have perception. If so, then I’d like to force myself to use it,” replied as he dashed into the midst. He found his greatest tempering tool to be adversity. Hence, rushing into the midst of an unknown number of opponents.

[Oh wow…this is more than I expected.]

“Is this…this… It’s simply a breeding ground,” uttered Apollo as he remained flabbergasted by the expansive layout before him. Journeying through a small passageway he found himself in the heart of a sticky situation.