As soon as Kyle approached, his target noticed.
It felt that something was about to attack it, and it immediately activated its defenses.
The mountain became darker in an instant as a huge amount of Earth Ether washed over it.
The Eater of Mountains was slow, and it was not used to evading.
It only blocked.
As Kyle shot through the air, the space around his hammer seemed to warp.
Of course, it wasn't actually warping space. It just looked like it.
This effect came from the other Method Kyle had just activated.
If someone from Earth could see Kyle's hammer right now, they would be reminded of slow-motion videos that captured flying bullets.
This Method was appropriately called Bullet.
Wind's Momentum, Explosion's Power, and Metal's Hardness.
Kyle's body reached the huge fake-mountain in an instant.
He swung his hammer forward.
As he did, Kyle's body suddenly stopped.
From a thousand kilometers per hour, Kyle's body reached zero as he put all his momentum into the hammer.
This was one aspect of Bullet. It could consume Kyle's momentum and add it to its own.
BANG!
An instantaneous explosion appeared on the back of the hammerhead.
Kyle gritted his teeth as his muscles started to tear due to all of the strain they were under.
The hammer shot forward with unreal speed and power.
And then, it hit.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Stone exploded everywhere.
The wall of the actual mountain behind the fake mountain exploded as well.
When the Vice-Guild Leader saw the monumental forces at play, even his eyes opened slightly.
The fake-mountain was pushed into the broken wall of the actual mountain.
The fake-mountain exploded into pieces-
Not entirely.
As the huge fake-mountain scattered across the surroundings, Kyle noticed broken scales beneath it.
When he saw those scales, he was reminded of a turtle.
'Fucking liar!' Kyle thought.
Kyle couldn't tell how injured the turtle was, but he knew that it couldn't immediately counterattack.
It had to recover from such a heavy hit.
Usually, Kyle would immediately continue attacking to make use of the opening.
Yet, there was an issue.
The combo of Ignition and Bullet had ended.
Kyle's Methods were not perfect yet, and the brutal level of destruction he had just unleashed essentially consumed all of his physical momentum.
Ignition could be used continually, but when Bullet consumed Ignition's momentum, Ignition deactivated.
Even more, Bullet was a one-and-done Method. After the strike, it ended.
BANG!
Kyle used a level one Ignition to retreat.
The flames were much weaker than before, but Kyle still reached incredible speeds in an instant.
The Eater of Mountains hadn't recovered from the strike yet.
In the air, the flames behind Kyle vanished as he resumed shaping Ignition.
About a second later, the flames activated with their original intensity as Ignition reached level three once more.
A second was a long time for a battle on this level, and the Eater of Mountains finally started to react.
A grey turtle-head came out of the turtle-shell, which a TURTLE inhabited.
While this was going on, Ether gathered around Kyle's hammer again.
Kyle changed his trajectory midair and flew towards the turtle again.
A moment later, the turtle opened its maw.
BANG!
A gigantic boulder, almost 20 meters wide, shot towards Kyle.
The fire-streak that was Kyle angled to the side and avoided the boulder.
A mediocre movement technique wouldn't have been able to suddenly change the user's trajectory like this.
However, Kyle didn't create mediocre techniques.
He had learned how to make techniques from the most experienced person in the world, and he wouldn't use one of his Methods in battle if it didn't reach his standards.
Bullet was not only designed with top speed in mind but also with acceleration and trajectory manipulation.
The Vice-Guild Leader watched as the fiery streak made an unnatural curve in the air, flowing around the gigantic boulder like water.
The turtle immediately launched another gigantic boulder.
Fewer than 200 milliseconds had passed since the launch of the first boulder and the second.
It fired these boulders at speeds of an experienced person repeatedly firing a handgun.
The fiery streak angled down and reached the ground before it curved upward again.
The turtle kept firing its boulders, but the streak always managed to avoid them.
In less than a second, the streak arrived below the turtle.
The turtle's foot suddenly grew several times bigger and turned a dark grey.
BOOOOOOM!
The foot slammed down with shocking speed, destroying more of the mountain.
Yet, before the turtle could even see if it hit its enemy or not, the shining streak reached its head.
The fire vanished.
For just a tiny instant in time, the two motionless combatants looked at each other.
Kyle and the turtle seemed to be frozen as the hammer moved forward.
Naturally, Kyle had had enough time to create another Bullet at maximum level.
This strike wouldn't be weaker than the first.
The hammer swung.
BANG!
The turtle's head shot upwards as blood exploded out of its chin.
The long neck of the turtle didn't let go, but it also didn't have the power to keep the head stable.
BANG!
The top of the turtle's head hit the back of its own shell as the sounds of breaking bones echoed throughout the surroundings.
The next moment, the unrecognizable head lifelessly fell to the side, still attached to the neck.
Blood, brain, and bone coated the back of the turtle's shell.
There was no question.
That thing was dead.
The body collapsed, not even twitching anymore.
The mountain vibrated once more as the immense weight of the turtle hit it.
Meanwhile, Kyle landed beside the big body and looked at it.
The next moment, the Vice-Guild Leader arrived beside Kyle.
Even though it was clear, he still had to confirm the death of the target firsthand.
While the Vice-Guild Leader inspected the corpse, Kyle looked at him.
"You said it's not a turtle," he commented.
"It's not," the Vice-Guild Leader answered evenly.
"Turtles mostly live in the water."
"This is a tortoise."
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