A grinning Abyssal creature with power at the Eternity rank being used as the test to become an A-rank adventurer was overkill.
Ryuk more than knew that, as he rose up to his feet to face the creature.
He had planned to lose this fight, but before that, he wanted to see just what this creature was capable of.
And without wasting a single second more, his hands stretched to the side, as ice conjured over them, soon taking the shape of a single 2 meter long spear.
When Ryuk gripped the spear, about a hundred more spears appeared in the air behind him in an instant.
He raised up his legs and took a single step forward.
"Activate Draconic Grave March!"
THUUUMPPP
KAAABOOOOOOM!
The next step the grinning Abyssal creature took resulted in a gigantic crater opening up in the ground
. Its body suddenly crouched downward with force, and right then and there—Ryuk shot out like an unleashed bow, flinging the ice spear forward.
Like a wordless command, the remaining hundred spears instantly followed after that single spear, as the creature raised its head to the sight of the approaching spear and suddenly—
"KEKEKEKEKE!"
Its grin widened even more as the first spear appeared before it, yet its claw instantly moved up and roughly grabbed the spear ahead, and then—
CRUUUNNCCCHHH
It crushed the entire head off the spear with a single clamp.
Ryuk’s eyes flashed when he watched the remaining hundred spears following the first spear suddenly all have their heads also crushed—even though they had yet to reach the abyssal creature—before they all blew into nothing but shimmering ice crystals.
In one single move, his ice attack had been ripped apart.
’Well, I only needed that to deceive anyone watching this anyway...’ Ryuk muttered to himself as he became a blur, flashing towards the crouched creature and appearing in an instant.
In the next instant, his fingers snapped together, curling into a fist and then—
VROOOOOOM
BOOOOOOM
BOOOOOOOM
BOBOOOOOM
Three circular shockwaves appeared in Ryuk’s hands as he lifted up the punch towards the chin of the creature.
The speed alone was enough to blast a Mach 3 force within a second, yet—
CLAAAAMPPPPPPPP
The sound of hard clamping rang out as the Abyssal creature turned its head downward, its maw opening up and then clamping tightly against Ryuk’s punch.
CRUUUNNCCCHHH
Immediately, the ice Ryuk used to cover his fist was instantly reduced to nothing, as his eyes flashed, watching as the power he laced into his punch was being torn through.
But then he decided to reinforce the punch with more power when his gaze snapped to the chest of the creature, and in the next instant—
VROOOOOOOM
The air flapped wildy as Ryuk quickly raised his other hand to cover his face when—
PIIIIEEERCCCCEE
The sound of the air being pierced rang out as a powerful beam of golden light burst out of the golden core on creature’s chest, slamming into Ryuk’s hands and instantly sending him flying.
BOOOOOM
BOOOOOOOOM
BOOOOOOOOOOOM
The ground beneath him gave way as he took three steps backwards, eventually bringing himself to a halt.
Raising his gaze to his arm to look at the deep scorch mark that appeared on his skin, amidst the cracks all over.
It cracked my defense...
[You get too distracted in fights recently. This should teach you a lesson.]
The system notification suddenly flashed as Ryuk’s eyes widened in shock when he felt the laugh echo behind him.
"KEKEKEKE"
He turned swiftly as he crossed his hands together, but before they could be crossed completely—
The ginormous claw crashed straight into Ryuk’s entire torso, carving five deep lines through him as he was blasted off his feet.
The Abyssal creature looked at its hands, seeing the shimmering Nabots pieces amidst red blood, before it flung it into the ground and continued walking toward its flying prey.
KAAABOOOOOOOM
The ground was once more cleaved through as Ryuk slammed into it, buried within as his eyes—his remaining right eye—looked up into the sky.
[You have to stay more focused and treat things like a life-and-death battle, like you used to.]
[Drifting off and acting like you’ve got everything under control is a lazy habit that will hit you bad when you face a truly strong opponent.]
[Don’t cultivate it.]
The system notification flashed before Ryuk’s gaze and in the next instant, the ground beneath him crumbled even further as his entire body jerked upward from the ground by an insanely released force, and he got back onto his feet.
Five long marks stretched over his entire torso, going from his waist up to the right side of his eyes, revealing shimmering Nabots—but then they began to close up, soon completely covered up as Ryuk turned to look at the grinning Abyssal, who continued its slow walk toward him.
"You’re right. I should always take every fight seriously." Ryuk thought as his wild expression descended into a neutral one before...
"Huuu,"
He took a calm breath, stretching his hands forward while lowering into a wide, grounded stance—serene and fluid, like a Taichi form prepared for war.
His eyes slowly closed.
When they opened back, they opened to the sight of the Abyssal creature arriving an inch before him, as he calmly raised his head to the sight of the monstrous claw slashing downward toward his head.
Taking a simple step to the side, Ryuk’s body weaved—the claw barely missing him by an inch—and then his hand flashed downward as his elbow slashed upwards toward the Abyssal creature like a blade.
It connected, making a powerful ding sound as if metal and metal had clashed together.
Ryuk watched part of the abyssal energy covering the creature’s hit part disperse, amidst tiny cracks, but then—
WEEEEEEEEEAAAAVVVVVEEE
The air above him was blown apart as a claw weaved by his head, barely missing him as Ryuk dodged down just in time.
His hand fluidly reached for the ground a split second later as he did a backflip, his leg slamming toward the creature’s jaw.
With insane reflex speed, the creature jerked back its head, avoiding Ryuk’s kick by an inch, before instantly following after him, its huge claws blasting out once more.
Ryuk shifted back to his normal form, as he raised his hand to the side of his head, blocking the claw, before immediately kicking it with his right leg toward the creature’s exposed core.
It surprisingly didn’t block it, as if wanting him to kick through its core, but just an inch before Ryuk’s leg could touch it.
He suddenly twisted his knee joints as his legs took a curled turn and slammed down toward the creature’s cheek instead.
KAABOOOOOOM
THUUMP
THUUMP
THUUMP