The Chieftain’s agonizing shriek reverberated through the cavern, shaking loose pebbles from the ceiling. Clutching its leaking underbelly, the massive beast completely lost all resemblance of a calculated dungeon boss. It was a dying animal now, driven purely by primal, chaotic rage.
It lunged forward with a wild, earth-shaking stomp, attempting to flatten Kai beneath its massive feet.
Kai’s SSS-Rank talent mapped out the boss's clumsy trajectory a mile away. To his seventeen points of effective Agility, the beast's desperate stomps and frantic claw swipes looked like they were moving through thick syrup. Kai side-stepped effortlessly to the left, the Shadow-Tread Boots leaving him completely silent as he circled the giant.
"Leo... we have to run..." one of the remaining vanguard cronies whimpered from the back, his hands shaking so violently he could barely hold his dented shield.
"Shut up!" Leo snapped, though his own voice was laced with a high-pitched tremor. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Kai. The sheer disparity in speed and precision was breaking his mind. How is an F-Rank moving like that? Why is his sword cutting through E-Rank armorhide?!
Kai rolled under a sweeping arm, stepping directly into the Chieftain's blind spot near its heel. With a fluid, heavy horizontal slash, the Abyssal Steel Shortsword cut clean through the monster's right Achilles tendon.
SLICE.
The Chieftain roared in agony as its massive weight collapsed onto one knee, its giant torso tilting forward heavily.
[Target Status]
> HP: 190/450 (Crippled)
"Now," Kai whispered.
He used the descending shoulder of the beast as a stepping stone, springing off it into a high, vertical leap. For a split second, Kai was suspended in the air, frad perfectly against the bioluminescent glow of the cavern ceiling. His violet eyes locked onto the soft, exposed flesh of the Chieftain’s throat.
Reversing his grip on the obsidian hilt, Kai brought the blade down with the entirety of his gravity-assisted montum.
CHUCK.
The refined black steel buried itself entirely through the monster's windpipe, pinning its head straight down into the dirt floor. The Chieftain gave one final, violent shudder, its thick arms twitching twice before going completely limp.
The heavy silence of the cave returned, broken only by the sound of Kai drawing his blade out of the carcass.
[System Notice]
> Gained 300 EXP.
[System Notice]
> Level Up!
> You have reached Level 3. All attributes increased by 2. Mana and HP fully restored.
A glorious wave of golden-violet energy washed over Kai, nding the slight strain in his muscles and expanding his mana pathways. He ignored the dumbfounded teenagers behind him and placed his palm directly onto the Chieftain’s massive skull.
System, extract.
A massive, glowing violet orb of dense energy tore itself free from the boss's chest, much larger and brighter than the standard goblin orbs. It flowed smoothly into Kai’s hand.
[System Notice]
> Extraction successful.
> Acquired 20 Evolution Points (EP).
> Acquired Material: 1x Dark Crystal.
> Total EP: 24
Kai took a slow breath, looking down at his status screen.
INFINITE EVOLUTION SYSTEM
> Host: Kai Raven
> Level: 3 (110/400 EXP)
> Talent: Eye of the Primordial Sovereign (SSS-Rank)
> HP: 140/140
> MP: 14/14
> Strength: 14 ( 5 from Abyssal Steel Shortsword)
> Agility: 15 ( 4 from Shadow-Tread Boots)
> Endurance: 13
> Evolution Points (EP): 24
He was just one single Evolution Point away from being able to upgrade his sword or boots into a terrifying D-Rank tier.
"Y-You..." Leo's trembling voice broke the quiet. He had pushed himself up against a boulder, staring at Kai with a volatile mixture of profound humiliation and terror. "You hid your rank. You cheated during the Awakening Ceremony! My uncle will hear about this, Raven! You’re going to be disqualified for hiding your true talent! F-Ranks don't just kill bosses!"
Kai turned around slowly. The blade in his hand was completely clean, the toxic blood sliding effortlessly off its refined black surface. He didn't say a single word to validate the panicked ranting. He just walked toward Leo, his boots making absolutely no sound, his violet eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.
Leo instantly scrambled backward, his face turning pale as a sheet. "Stay back! Don't co any closer! If you touch , my family will ruin you!"
Kai stopped a few inches away, looking down at the shivering prodigy. "I don't need to cheat, Leo. You're just that weak."
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