Chapter 26: Slaying a Third-Stage abomination alone!
Listening to her words, Ryven’s mind flashed like lightning as he desperately thought of a way to achieve that breakthrough.
While continuously evading the Cerberus’ attacks, he wasn’t simply dodging blindly.
Every chance he got, he unleashed Sword Slashes toward the creature’s waist, gradually deepening the wound little by little.
Thankfully, the Mana consumption isn’t as heavy as before...
Ryven felt slightly relieved. At this rate, he could probably continue fighting for another two hours.
The reason behind this was because, his Mana had significantly increased after the between the trolls.
Suddenly, he heard Samminah’s voice echoed in his mind.
"Idiot, be careful!"
Hearing her warning, he was rather puzzled.
There was no danger in front of him. However, his expression abruptly changed after sensing something wrong.
Four massive arms suddenly appeared behind him, violently swinging toward his body.
Ryven barely managed to raise his sword in time, blocking two of the incoming strikes.
However, another arm slammed directly into his left arm once again.
Crack!
The sound of bones breaking echoed in his ears.
An overwhelming pain instantly assaulted him, so intense that Ryven’s mind went blank for several seconds.
After regaining his senses, he frowned deeply.
Sh*t... I got careless again. I thought its attacks would stay repetitive.
Once again, his body was sent flying through the air, eventually getting caught by the tree branches.
Only now did he realize that the Cerberus had intentionally used the thick fog to distort his vision and confuse his perception.
Watching from afar, Samminah’s lips couldn’t help but twitch slightly.
Ryven slowly stood up after being sent flying. His entire left arm felt numb and limp.
His Iron skin covering it had completely shattered from the impact. However, the moment he activated Iron Body again, a new layer of Iron skin quickly spread across his left arm.
It was at this moment that Ryven suddenly felt a spark of inspiration.
I’m close... I can definitely feel it!
Activating his Iron skin again, he noticed something strange. The pain in his arm slightly got better the moment Iron Body reactivated.
His intuition immediately told him something.
If he could fully understand why Iron Body was easing his injuries, then he would finally break through into Beginner Stage mastery.
To achieve that breakthrough, Ryven decided to gamble everything.
Every time Iron Body shattered and reformed, his understanding of the skill deepened slightly.
Also adding the fact that, whenever he activated it before, the skill always felt unnatural and uncomfortable.
But now, the more it broke and reconstructed itself, the more compatible it became with his body.
As the Cerberus charged toward him once again, Ryven remained standing still without any intention of dodging.
Samminah and Fred immediately noticed his predicament.
Subconsciously, both of them prepared to intervene and kill the Cerberus themselves.
However, Ryven had already anticipated that.
"Don’t intervene!"
His command instantly stopped both of them.
Samminah subconsciously gritted her teeth, frustration appearing in her deep violet eyes.
"Tch, how stubborn."
Probing his current situation—and his current emotions, she could vaguely understood what was he trying to prove.
He wanted to become independent.
Watching his stubborn performance, she coldly huff.
Five moonlight blades over a meter long had strangely already manifested around her, ready to attack the Cerberus any moment.
At the same time, six Moon Luminsce floated around her. It was very prepared to heal Ryven the instant he suffered fatal injuries.
Meanwhile, Fred was already gripping the sheath of his sword, ready to attack at any moment.
Ryven slowly closed his eyes.
The next second, tremendous pain assaulted his entire body.
Bang!
Four massive arms struck him simultaneously.
The first slammed directly into his abdomen.
The second crashed directly into his chest, nearly causing his heart to stop beating.
The third struck directly against his face, without the Iron skin, surely his face would’ve been disfigured by now.
And the fourth heavily smashed into his right
Shoulder.
This time, Ryven was blasted high into the air before crashing violently into a thick tree branch.
The pain was even worse than the paralysis caused by Beast Transformation. The agonizing sensation made his vision blur and his head felt like as if countless of knives was stabbing his head.
By far, this was the second most painful injury he had ever experienced physically.
Yet at that exact moment, Ryven finally reached a breakthrough.
Quietly, Ryven subconsciously murmured to himself. Iron Body...
That skill isn’t just meant to cover my skin.
At first, he thought the skill only created a layer of Iron around his body.
But now he finally understood.
The true essence of Iron Body was to strengthen his entire body from within.
The Muscles, the bones, the veins, the flesh, including every part of him was gradually becoming as durable as Iron itself.
He coughed out a mouthful of blood before activating Iron Body once more. This time, he felt nothing wrong, the Iron Body skill had become compatible with his body!
His body instantly became far more durable and stronger than before, the injuries he sustained also started rapidly began recovering.
It almost felt similar to being healed by Moon Luminsce, though the effect was several times weaker.
In merely a few minutes, even the shoulder that had been shattered moments ago slowly began to heal.
Noticing that his body was recovering, he leaped from the branch. Landing from such a height was now durable.
The Cerberus quickly reacted the moment Ryven landed on the ground again. It seemed furious that this human was somehow still alive.
Roaring violently, it charged toward him once more with much more terrifying speed.
However, because of that carelessness, Ryven finally found the opportunity to kill it.
The instant the Cerberus rushed forward.
Its fist only a centimeters away from his face.
In that single instant, he unleashed Sword Slash three consecutive times. Three blue slashes attacked directly at its waist.
The Cerberus couldn’t react in time.
Because, unbeknownst to the creature, the accumulated damage around its waist had already reached its limit long ago.
[Host, Had slain a Third-Stage, Cerberus!]
[+500 Experience Points!]
[Host, level increased +1]
Looking at the system notifications, Ryven immediately placed the two gained stat points into Mana.
At the same time, he noticed something else.
After enduring that brutal battle, both his Durability and Endurance had naturally increased.
His Durability increased by one point.
His Endurance also increased by two points.
Seeing the Cerberus finally collapse lifelessly onto the ground, Ryven let out a long exhausted breath before falling into the ground m
"Haaa... I could’ve beaten it without going through all that pain. What you said wasn’t true."
Slowly, Samminah and Fred emerged, while wrapping him with her concealment ability.
Without saying a word, Samminah immediately enveloped Ryven with Moon Luminsce, rapidly healing his injuries.
"What do you mean?" She said innocently.
"I only said your chances of winning would increase if your mastery became at the beginner stage."
"I never said defeating it is impossible."
"And besides, if you hadn’t used yourself as bait, the Cerberus might’ve revealed even more dangerous abilities once it realized you were truly a threat."
Ryven dramatically rolled his eyes at her explanation.
Without saying anything else, the three continued traveling deeper toward the eastern region.
The Abyss Bear’s location was still extremely far away. At minimum, it would take them an entire day to reach it.
As they traveled, they encountered numerous poisonous plants and trees. Some were so toxic that merely touching them could kill an ordinary person instantly.
After continuously heading east for several hours, night gradually approached.
Only then did Ryven suggest stopping.
The area they found was relatively flat, with no trees within five meters.
"Let’s camp here for the night."
When the night fully settled in, the thick fog will cover the whole forest, making it nearly impossible to see anything beyond a short distance.
Preparing camp beforehand was clearly the safest option.
However, after hearing his suggestion, Samminah quickt shook her head.
"There’s no need for me to rest yet. It would be better if I hunt a few abominations for experience points."
Ryven wore a conflicted expression. Although he wanted to stop her, because it’s far more dangerous at this place.
He was certain that even if he told her not to go, she wouldn’t listen.
"Well... You can, but be careful."
"And quick question? At what level will my next ability unlock?"
"Level thirty," Samminah answered expressionlessly. "Though once you reach level twenty, your current abilities will become stronger."
Ryven nodded in understanding as Samminah quickly disappeared into the fog afterward.
As Ryven prepared the camp, he ordered Fred to stand guard in case any abominations approached.
Even though Samminah had left, her concealment ability still enveloped both Ryven and Fred.
Not long after he finished setting up the camp, Ryven suddenly heard a system notification echo in his mind.
[??? Had slain a Third-Stage, Cerberus!]
[Would you like to transfer the experience points to ??? Or take it all to yourself?]
Ryven froze on the spot as if he had just seen a ghost.
At this point... Soon, even Fourth-Stage
abominations probably wouldn’t be a match for her.
Only now did Ryven truly begin to realize just how terrifying Samminah’s strength actually was.
Ever since he transmigrated into this world, he had never once seen her struggle in a fight.
Before he could even continue thinking, more notifications rapidly appeared one after another.
[??? Had slain a Second-Stage, Poisonous Flowers!]
[??? Had slain a Second-Stage, Drainwalker!]
[??? Had slain a Second-Stage, Black Panther!]
The system notifications continuously rang inside his head without stopping.
Looking at the endless notifications of kills, the corner of Ryven’s mouth twitched slightly.
He took a deep breath before ultimately ignoring all of it for now.
He decided to wait until Samminah returned before choosing whether to transfer the experience points.
