Chapter 48: Canopy Predator
The morning fog hung heavily between the ancient twisted trunks of the Whisper Woods. Leon slipped out of the hidden cave and immediately scaled a massive oak tree.
His one hundred and thirty five points of Agility made the sheer vertical climb feel completely effortless. He leaped from branch to branch with the silent predatory grace of a shadow perfectly blending into the dense canopy above.
He activated his perfect Night Vision to pierce the thick gray mist. He spotted the mercenary search party moving systematically through a shallow ravine roughly two hundred yards away from the cave.
There were four men clad in dark reinforced leather armor.
They carried glowing runic short swords and heavy repeating crossbows. Leading the pack was a massive tracking hound with thick metallic plating grafted onto its skull. The beast was furiously sniffing the damp dirt searching for a trail of blood.
Leon observed their movements with cold calculating precision. His Danger Intuition skill buzzed gently in his mind alerting him to their individual threat levels. Three of the mercenaries felt like minor annoyances.
They were likely Tier Two Masters possessing decent physical enhancement but lacking refined aura techniques.
The squad leader however was a different story. He walked near the back of the formation radiating a dense suffocating magical pressure.
He was easily a Tier Four Master.
Leon knew his raw stats were massive but he lacked the formal martial arts training to fight a highly coordinated squad of seasoned killers in open combat. If they surrounded him and layered their aura attacks he would be shredded.
He needed to utilize asymmetrical warfare. He had to become a monster stalking them in the fog.
He mentally opened the system shop and spent fifty Shameless Points to purchase a set of basic throwing knives. A heavy leather bandolier holding six perfectly balanced steel blades materialized across his chest.
He moved silently through the high branches keeping pace directly above the tracking squad.
The massive hound suddenly stopped and let out a low aggressive growl. It pawed at a patch of bloody grass near a shattered tree trunk. It was the exact location where Leon had executed the iron hide boar earlier that morning.
"The beast blood is fresh," one of the mercenary trackers called out. He knelt in the dirt and inspected the crushed grass. "Someone dragged a heavy carcass away from here. The noble bitch must be close."
Leon did not give them a chance to organize.
He channeled his expanded mana core and activated his Silent Casting skill. He did not utter a single sound. He extended his right hand and aimed directly at the massive tracking hound standing beneath him.
He unleashed a highly concentrated burst of Kinetic Repulsion.
The invisible wall of raw kinetic force slammed into the hound with the speed of a falling meteorite.
The heavy metallic plating on its skull instantly crumpled under the sheer pressure. The beast was violently driven straight down into the damp earth with a sickening crunch. It died instantly without making a single sound.
The three lesser mercenaries froze in pure shock. They stared at the crushed carcass of their tracking hound unable to comprehend what had just struck it from the sky.
Leon did not waste a single microsecond.
He drew two steel throwing knives from his bandolier. His passive Sword Mastery skill heavily influenced his grip providing the perfect biomechanical alignment for a lethal throw. His monstrous Strength and Agility fueled the motion.
He violently whipped his arms forward.
The steel blades broke the sound barrier. They were merely basic shop items but the raw kinetic force behind them turned them into devastating armor piercing projectiles.
The two knives buried themselves hilt deep into the throats of two mercenaries before they could even draw a breath to scream. The men violently collapsed backward choking on their own blood as their runic short swords clattered uselessly against the rocks.
"Ambush!" the remaining Tier Two mercenary shrieked in absolute terror. He frantically raised his repeating crossbow and fired blindly up into the foggy canopy.
Leon simply stepped off the high branch and allowed gravity to take hold.
He plummeted thirty feet through the mist directly toward the panicked mercenary.
He channeled his mana into his legs and perfectly activated his Aura Step the exact moment his boots touched the ground. He folded the physical space and completely neutralized his falling momentum.
He materialized directly in front of the terrified man.
Before the mercenary could pull the trigger again Leon reached out and firmly grabbed the heavy crossbow.
His massive ninety points of Strength effortlessly crushed the solid oak stock into splinters. He fluidly pivoted his hips and delivered a devastating palm strike directly into the center of the man’s leather breastplate.
His basic Mana Skin fused with the kinetic impact. The mercenary’s ribcage instantly shattered. The man was blasted violently off his feet crashing heavily into the muddy ravine and lying completely motionless.
Three seasoned killers and a tracking hound eliminated in less than ten seconds.
Leon stood slowly and rolled his broad shoulders. He felt a dark highly satisfying thrill pumping through his veins.
A slow mocking clap echoed from the deep fog.
The squad leader the Tier Four Master stepped casually over the bodies of his fallen comrades.
He held a long slender rapier that hummed with a vicious jagged green aura. The magical pressure radiating from his blade actively killed the surrounding grass.
"That was a highly impressive display of raw speed boy," the mercenary captain noted with a cold clinical gaze. "You possess absolutely zero aura but you move like a high tier assassin. The Syndicate pays handsomely for rare magical anomalies like you."
Leon did not bother replying. He dropped into a flawless defensive stance utilizing his Sword Mastery foundation. His Danger Intuition was buzzing fiercely like an angry hornet.
The captain smirked and raised his glowing rapier.
"Unfortunately for you," the mercenary purred smoothly. "Raw speed means absolutely nothing against true martial refinement."
The captain blurred into motion.
The green aura trailing behind his blade created a highly toxic mesmerizing arc in the fog.
Leon braced his legs and prepared to intercept the lethal strike.
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