Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 38: Second Kill

Damion landed with a roll and immediately stood up, looking above to see if he would spot anything or anyone.

"Whoever that person is, they’re surely up to no good," Damion uttered with conviction in his voice. "Luckily, even if they’ve got sharp eyesight, the mask hid my face... but, am I the only one with this eye color in the whole of the academy?"

In response to that question, a loud roar came from behind him, and he immediately turned around, summoning the Tang Dao sword into his hand.

The first thing Damion saw was a hairy ball of something flying towards him, before his eyes adjusted to the sudden movement and he saw a massive ape, its fur a deep brown and its eyes burning with fury, charging towards him. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The Ape’s massive fists were clenched, and its jaws wide open, revealing a sharp row of teeth.

Damion stood his ground, his Tang Dao ready to taste blood. He had faced many opponents before, but this was the first Beast he was facing.

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[Lower Rank 1 Beast]

[Common Hairy Ape]

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Damion paused. This was a first too, the System had never shown him something without him first touching it, but he had suddenly seen this. He quickly refocused his attention back on the charging ape, waiting for the right moment to attack.

His passive skill, Swordsmanship, came alive in that moment, and his stance changed, his feets shifting into a more balanced state. His aura, which had been charged with tension, transitioned, becoming calm and composed.

His life was at stake here, and if he lost, he died, so he couldn’t take any chances and decided to go all out.

As the Ape closed in, Damion took a carefully planned step back, and he dropped into his shadow, popping out of another close to the wall behind.

The Ape’s fist crashed on the wall as Damion disappeared, and just as he reappeared close to his previous spot, he swung his blade in a wide arc, aiming for the Ape’s arm.

A cut was made and blood was drawn, but it wasn’t deep enough.

The Ape swung its injured arm wildly in pain and anger, hitting Damion squarely in the chest and sending him flying backwards.

[-50HP]

It should be known that the Ape was three meters tall, and its fists were twice the size of its head, almost as big as its torso, so Damion felt the wind get knocked out of him as he flew through the air, disoriented, failing to catch himself as he fell.

He crashed heavily and slid across the ground, and the Ape didn’t hesitate to come for him again, roaring and beating its chest.

"That was a strong hit," Damion said as he spat out saliva mixed in with some blood.

He hurriedly stood up, shaking his head to clear his vision and concentrate on the battle. He was lucky to have a strong constitution, if not, he would have lost more than just 50 HP. Even with the strength he had, he still couldn’t tank a direct attack from a Lower Rank 1 Beast without suffering for it.

The rumbling of the ground notified him of the approaching danger, and immediately the Ape entered the range of Dragon’s Authority, he moved.

Damion swiftly closed the distance between himself and the Ape, his movements fueled by the Swordsmanship skill.

As he approached, he could feel something stir within him, and the purple glow in his eyes intensified.

Blessing of Strength, laying dormant for some time now, finally stirred, its power coursing through Damion. He gained insight on ways to maximize his physical strengths, and he immediately put it to action.

With a small cry as he exerted his strength, Damion stomped his foot on the ground and jumped straight ahead.

The Ape brought down its large hairy arms on Damion, but like a slippery Eel, he shot past the Ape’s arm and drew a line across its neck.

Silence... then blood spurted like a fountain, trailing behind Damion’s sword as he landed behind the Ape. He took a look at the cut he had made, and a grin appeared on his face.

"Dead," he muttered.

The cut might have been shallow, but the Middle Rank sword he held was not ordinary by any means. Besides, he had hit a vital artery in the Ape’s neck. Its death was guaranteed.

The Ape roared, unrelenting even at the doors of death. It furiously beat its chest and attacked Damion without care for its defence.

Damion didn’t bother to exchange blows with the Ape and began to dodge, creating distance between himself and it using Shadow Walk in the dense dark forest.

The fight he expected to be much harder became a walk in the park. He found it easy to escape the Ape’s frenzy using the endless shadows of the night.

The Ape, despite its initial rampage, began to slow down after some minutes, its movements becoming sluggish until it collapsed to the ground in the end, dead.

Damion let out a sharp breath and looked down at his sword, staring at the blood on its surface falling off and turning into ash.

The silence of the forest was broken by the roar of other Beasts residing in it, and Damion half expected another Beast to suddenly jump out from nowhere and attack him again, but after waiting for a while, there was nothing.

The body of the Ape was slowly turning into ash, starting from its neck that had been slit. This was the effect of Life Deterioration plus the Tang Dao’s skill, Serpent’s Bite.

Damion decided to bide his time and settled on the ground, taking a moment to recover his lost HP and MP.

His eyes glazed over, and he began to replay his recent fight in his mind.

Hakuro had strictly told him and Kenzo to do this after every fight, so that they could fix their flaws by themselves, quicker than anyone could.

It took him time, but when he was done, half of the Ape’s body had been turned into ash, and its core could be seen.