No, this was not a battle where Lian had to use all his power to survive.
It was only clearing creatures whose levels were below the point where they could truly hurt him.
The ants ran, attacked, and stung.
But every time, Predator’s Instincts warned him before they moved.
Night Eyes showed their path even in the darkest parts of the moss.
Diamond Skin made every hit he deliberately received useless.
And Glacial Reaper Claw broke their hard shells like thin crust.
The last Crimson Needle Soldier stepped back.
Level 24.
The largest creature of the group.
Its chest shell was thicker than the others, and its long stinger was dripping a green and dark liquid on the ground.
The creature moved its antennae, then suddenly turned around, intending to escape, as if fear had entered it.
Lian did not allow it, he took a step, the soil beneath his foot split, and the next moment he appeared behind the ant.
The ice claw came down from above, the sound of breaking shell echoed in the forest, and the Level 24 body moved two more steps forward.
Then it fell on the ground.
Silence returned, the surrounding moss was covered in dark blood, layers of ice had formed on the corpses.
The legs of a few ants were still twitching with weak movements, but none of them were considered a threat anymore.
Lian stood up straight.
The dark veins on his neck returned to normal, Glacial Reaper Claw cracked on his hand and turned into ice particles.
The entire battle had lasted less than two minutes.
His breathing was slightly heavier, not more than that, and behind him, the three Lacerians were still holding their weapons up.
None of them had had the chance to land even one hit.
Nemi was looking at the bodies with a half-open mouth.
Then at Lian, and then back at the bodies.
"You killed all of them... alone?"
Lian bent down and examined the broken stinger of one of the Soldiers, the green liquid at its tip was still bubbling.
"They were too weak." For him, that explanation was enough, despite their large size, all of them were below level 25.
But the silence that followed his sentence showed that it was not the same for those three.
Ravian slowly lowered his spear, his gaze still fixed on Lian.
"You really come from that world you said? Are all people of your species this strong?"
"It depends, some are stronger and some are weaker." Lian answered calmly, and then the system panels appeared before his eyes one after another.
[You killed Crimson Needle Worker — Level 18.]
[Butcher activated.]
[A fraction of the target’s stats has been permanently acquired.]
The next message appeared.
[You killed Crimson Needle Soldier — Level 22.]
[Butcher activated.]
[A fraction of the target’s stats has been permanently acquired.]
A few more messages came one after another, Lian ignored them without much attention, the gain from each was small.
But their number made that big difference, with a general look, he realized he had obtained 192 stats points, and there was another happy piece of news.
His level bar was almost full, and he was not far from level 17.
Then a different message appeared.
[Glutton activated.]
[Skill detected.]
[Paralytic Venom]
[Absorption in progress...]
[Absorption successful.]
[New Skill acquired: Paralytic Effect.]
[Rank: Common ( + )]
[Description: Your body fluids can be poisonous and deadly for targets. The weaker the enemy, the more deadly the poison. The closer the target’s power is to you, or the stronger they are, the weaker the poison acts. Each drop of poison consumes 0.001 mana.]
Lian opened and closed his fingers.
For a moment, a very thin layer of green liquid formed on the tips of his nails and then disappeared.
He immediately understood the meaning of the change.
From now on, every scratch or wound he inflicted would contain poison and could either kill or weaken his enemies.
Maybe it would not fully work on powerful monsters, but even slowing a movement by half a second in a real fight could be the difference between life and death.
Sera approached one of the corpses and touched its shell with the tip of her knife.
"You even split the Soldier’s armor." Surprise was visible in her eyes, this Otherworldly’s power was insane.
"The underside of their stomach is weaker." Lian said.
"That’s not what I meant." Sera raised her head, even if they knew the weak points, they could not kill such a monster.
Except for the tribe chief and the elders, there was no other hunter in their tribe who could hunt even one of these monsters alone.
Let alone slaughter a whole group of them alone.
And this Otherworldly looked as young as them... unless she was mistaken, how could such a young creature be so powerful?
If every person in their world was that powerful... then their world was in great danger!
Before Lian could answer, the ground trembled, not like before, this time stronger, much stronger, and the ant corpses shook on the soil.
Pieces of ice fell from their shells.
Ravian immediately raised his head, Nemi stepped back.
The second impact came, and one of the corpses was lifted off the ground and fell again.
Then a massive shadow covered the entire area, the green light of the forest disappeared, everyone looked up.
First they saw the horns, not two simple horns, but a massive network of bone branches that moved like a dry crown in the mist.
Then the creature’s head appeared, a long and heavy face, eyes the size of shields, and dark skin with golden veins.
The monster’s body passed through the trees, and the height of its shoulders reached over thirty meters.
The identification panel appeared for a moment.
[Titan Horned Elk]
[Level: 31]
The creature was coming straight toward them.
Nemi held her breath, Sera raised her weapon.
"Don’t move." Ravian said.
Lian kept his gaze fixed on the creature’s massive legs.
Had it seen them? Had the smell of the ants’ blood attracted it?
The Titan Horned Elk did not lower its head, its eyes passed over their heads.
Not on them, but on a bush dozens of meters away, they did not exist for it, the creature’s front leg lifted.
The shadow of its sole fell on the ant corpses.
A moment later, the foot landed, the sound of the impact was like a falling boulder, half of the battle scene disappeared under its sole.
A few Crimson Needle Ant corpses, broken shells, and layers of ice, turned into a dark paste in an instant.
A wave of soil scattered around.
Lian was forced to raise his arm in front of his face.
The Titan Horned Elk took its next step without stopping.
Its other leg passed a few meters beside them, the wind from its movement shook their clothes.
Then its massive body passed over their heads, the smell of soil, plants, and animal filled the surrounding space.
A few seconds later, the monster moved further away, every step still shaking the forest.
It never looked back, all the battle that had shocked Ravian and his two companions moments before...
All that speed, power, and slaughter, for this forest, was nothing more than a few insects being crushed under the foot of a large herbivore.
Lian looked at the creature’s fresh footprint, the pit was several meters deep, the ants’ blood had pooled at the bottom.
He was an absolute predator for creatures below Level 25.
A monster that could slaughter them without help, without fear, and almost without damage.
But the Forest of Giants... had a different scale.
Here, there was always something bigger, something that might not even sense his presence.
He looked at the corpses of the monsters he had killed, only three of them had remained intact, and he took those three without hesitation and placed them in his storage space.
"We have to go." Ravian finally let out his breath.
"I agree, if a monster like that notices us, it will be bad." Lian took his gaze off the footprint.
"No, the main problem is not the other monsters." Ravian shook his head.
He looked at the pit and the monsters’ blood.
"It’s because of these ants that we have to leave this place as soon as possible." And then he added.
"They are dead, but that is the problem."
"Crimson Needle Ants don’t hunt only by smell. When one of the colony members dies, its body releases a substance that alerts the rest."
"The rest?" Lian frowned, a bad guess appeared in his mind, and just to be sure, he asked.
"The colony." Ravian looked at him.
And his guess was correct, they had to leave this place right now! He could probably handle dozens of them.
But facing hundreds or thousands of them would be hard and even impossible for him.
At that same moment, Sera lowered her head, as if she had heard something, she walked a few steps forward and knelt down.
She put her ear near the ground, remained motionless for a few seconds, and then her face lost its color.
"Ravian..."
A very faint rustling sound was heard from a distance, at first it sounded like rain falling on leaves, but there was no rain.
The sound became more regular.
Tick tick tick tick tick tick.
Thousands of small impacts.
Thousands of feet.
The distant moss moved, not in one spot but across a wide area, a wave of movement formed in the green cover and slowly approached them.
Hundreds of red eyes opened in the darkness under the moss, then their number increased.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Maybe thousands.
Lian looked carefully, each one alone was weak, each one below Level 25, he could kill one.
Kill ten, maybe even a hundred.
But not before their numbers covered the entire ground, not before they climbed over each other and filled every gap.
Not before Sera, Ravian, and Nemi disappeared under a wave of armored bodies.
"We have to reach the bitter mushroom path." Ravian immediately stood up, urgency and fear were completely noticeable in his voice.
"Where is it?" Lian also understood the urgency of the matter.
"Based on the signs, the direction of the wind, and the sun’s path, it should be about two kilometers away from us, their smell will hide our trail." Ravian pointed to the left.
Lian looked at the wave of moving moss, this boy really had a good talent for tracking.
And two kilometers in this forest was not a short distance, two kilometers in this forest was like two thousand kilometers, and God knew what other threats might exist on their path.
But there was no other choice.
"Run!" Ravian shouted.
The four started moving, Sera and Nemi ran ahead, Ravian behind them was clearing the path.
Lian ran a few steps, but then stopped, for a moment he looked back, now he could see the red and black heads among the moss.
An endless row, the further they came, the more the moss split open.
The ground was no longer still, the entire forest floor... was moving.
A whole colony was coming after them!