REWARDS
Looking in that direction, he spotted three familiar silhouettes of faces he recognized.
Cinderwhisk!
-----
Not only that, they were on the ground, accompanied by a warrior. According to what Rave had read in the books, the creatures of Foran were particularly intelligent. They were still monsters, attacking without common sense, but every race had a hierarchy, including these monster races.
But it varied for every race. For Cinderwhisk, the one who threw the spear was more likely a warrior. These Cinderwhisk warriors had experience with weapons. They usually used their claws, but those who learned to handle weapons were dangerous, creating their own fighting style from those they fought.
"I'm still injured from my last fight, and these creatures seem to be after the Emberroot as well. I can give them the Emberroot I've gathered and avoid the fight, but the rewards of my 'first time' might disappear and not reappear," Rave thought. His situation was complicated. He could avoid the fight, but that meant letting the rewards go, with no idea if he would trigger them again.
"Ah, forget it!" Rave said, shifting into a fighting position. With his passive skill and Thunder Rush, he would have an advantage, but Thunder Rush only lasted for 30 seconds. He could continue using the elemental surge as there was no cooldown on this skill.
"Whoa..." Rave breathed in and out, calming himself and heightening his senses even more, enabling him to focus and perceive any danger.
WHOOSH
WHOOSH
THUMP
Two Cinderwhisk immediately rushed towards Rave, while the warrior smiled, seemingly predicting that Rave would die soon. They ran symmetrically, glued to each other.
Rave saw this and picked up a stone from the ground. He used all his strength to throw it at the Cinderwhisk on the left.
WHOOSH
WHIZZ
The Cinderwhisk on the left saw this and immediately separated, dodging away. It knew that if it hit his body or head, it would cause a deep wound or even put a hole in his body.
THUD
The stone hit the tree beside the Cinderwhisk warrior. It looked at it with a faint look of shock as the stone was deeply embedded in the tree.
Rave also saw this and was shocked by his strength. 'Seems like having an attribute of 16 in strength is strong. Then what about a normal person's attribute? How would it compare to my status?' Rave thought. He wanted to learn more, but he was currently in the middle of the fight.
This happened for only a few seconds. After throwing the stone, even though Rave aimed at the Cinderwhisk on the left, the one on the right also moved away, not wanting to be hit as well. It stumbled and almost hit the ground but managed to break the fall with both its hands.
But with this opening, Rave saw it as an opportunity. He didn't activate Thunder Rush; he wanted to test his current body, even if he was injured. Rave didn't care. He immediately stepped forward; his leg strength propelled him like a spring, instantly leaving a deep crevice in the ground.
Even though the Cinderwhisk were at least 10 meters away, it only took 3 seconds for him to arrive face to face with the Cinderwhisk who was on the ground. Immediately, he used 'Elemental Surge'; instantly his hands were covered in electric and made crackling noises.
The Cinderwhisk who was on the ground was able to get up in time as a punch from the back of his head drilled him to the ground. The first punch had no effect, but the second punch activated one of the effects.
-----
[Conduction was applied; enemy nearby will suffer residual shock]
-----
A shockwave immediately surrounded the area; the range of the effect was not far, but it managed to reach the other Cinderwhisk.
CRACKLING
Having received the effect of Conduction, the Cinderwhisk fur stood up; it was visibly hurt. It tried to run towards Rave to help his companion, but due to the effect, his speed was greatly reduced compared to previously. Before it arrived, Rave already killed it with a third punch.
Rave did the same thing; he rushed towards the Cinderwhisk who was moving slowly like a turtle while a spark of electricity could be seen in its body. Rave used the same skill and punched its abdomen; another effect was activated.
-----
[Electrified was applied; enemy stunned]
-----
The enemy who was punched plopped to the ground; it didn't move or rather, it could not move due to the effect but it twitched from time to time. Before delivering a finishing blow, the Cinderwhisk warrior had enough.
It thought that the human he was facing was an easy prey; that's why he let his companion handle it. It shouted, seemingly trying to say something, but Rave didn't care about what it was trying to say, so he used all his strength and punched through the Cinderwhisk's head.
-----
[You've Leveled Up!]
[Level 2 -> Level 3]
Strength (STR): +8 (New total: 24)
Multi-Defense (DEF): +4 (New total: 20)
Agility (AGI): +5 (New total: 23)
Vitality (VIT): +4 (New total: 16)
Intelligence (INT): +8 (New total: 34)
-----
A sudden level up made Rave happier. Now he's more confident fighting the Cinderwhisk warrior; he can feel his body is much stronger than before. He also doesn't feel much pain from his injury. As Rave thought about his new status, he saw something that confused him.
The Cinderwhisk walked slowly as it pulled the spear from the ground.
POP
The spear was pulled from the ground, and it also pulled another weapon from its back at its waist. Even though this creature was generally known as half human tall, the creature in front of him reached his shoulder. Even though Rave's initial age in this world is 18, he's quite tall.
SWISH
'A Kukri?' Rave thought. It looks like a kukri, but he can tell that this creature looted this from someone it killed because this weapon looks high quality.
Suddenly, the Cinderwhisk shouted and said something while trying to convey a message with its face dripping in tears.
"You're crying," Rave said. He didn't know what happened, but this creature suddenly cried while holding a spear in its right hand and a kukri in its left hand. He could also see that this creature is ready to attack at any moment; it's gripping the weapon in both of its arms with great strength.
Then the Cinderwhisk acted; its speed was totally different compared to the other two Cinderwhisks that Rave fought; it was two to three times faster.
"Good thing that I've leveled up, or I'll be dead before I realize," Rave thought. He's glad that he leveled up because even with that type of speed, he can still follow Cinderwhisk's movement. Rave didn't waste any time; he used Thunder Rush.
A crackling noise was visibly heard in every direction. Rave's hair stood tall; his eyes pure white and countless static surrounded his body; it also affected the ground and nearby leaves, trees, grass, etc., slightly igniting the surroundings with embers of fire.
CRACK
CRACK
CRACK
Rave didn't dwell any longer and moved his body; with only a slight movement of his feet, he crossed meters of distance because he could not control his speed; he managed to run and pass by the Cinderwhisk in just a second. Rave's face filled with shock as did the Cinderwhisk who was rushing towards him; it blinked for a moment and Rave disappeared.
It only saw a trail of electricity with a slight burn on the ground and looked behind to find Rave.
"Now let's see if you can catch me," Rave confidently said. But right after he said that, a change happened to the Cinderwhisk.
'I should've jinxed it, didn't I?' Rave thought as he looked towards the Cinderwhisk; he could feel something dangerous, and his intuition also told him that this creature is more dangerous than before.
ROOAAR
The Cinderwhisk was shocked by what Rave did, so it didn't have any choice and immediately used a skill. It's actually a skill that every monster has, and it's called 'Berserk,' their final lifeline where they use their life force to empower themselves, which has a great disadvantage. They will be in a state of 'Frenzy,' making them attack everything - even their foes, friends, family - anything! Also, they can only live for a number of days depending on how much life force they consume; aside from that, their body will be in a weakened state where at least 90% of their power will disappear.
Back to the Cinderwhisk: its fur was burnt, leaving only its skin that turned red; its eyes turned black. Its body reached the size of an adult, and its height reached Rave's; then a sudden prompt appeared in front of Rave.
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[First-time encounter of 'Quasi-Unique' being. The following reward will be given after successfully subjugating it]
[Undaunted Victor - SECOND EFFECT UNLOCKED]
[+2 to all attributes]
[STATUS UPDATE v1.0]
-----
'A Quasi-Unique being? Is it because of the skill it used? The effect looks similar to berserk in any games I played; I think I also read about this from the book earlier,' Rave thought. He wanted to express his happiness because of another reward unlocking another effect of his title - an attribute reward - and a status update that he doesn't have an idea what it is.
The Cinderwhisk, on the other hand, is already unarmed; the spear was long broken by its strength; it let go of the kukri as well and instantly rushed towards
Rave was ready to fight the creature, but its speed was much more different from before; it could be said that it's as fast as Rave. Since Rave was already in this situation, he didn't back out; he chose to fight it head-on. He didn't even notice that in a dangerous situation Rave was smiling the whole time; a new emotion was created inside him that he didn't even know.
Trails of a red hue and crackling static that burned the ground could only be seen. Rave was able to connect his fist first, stumbling the Cinderwhisk; but it recovered immediately and returned a punch to his stomach. Yet Rave endured; he grabbed the arms of Cinderwhisk and did a side kick on its knee.
The Cinderwhisk felt the damage and touched the ground, but Rave didn't stop; while holding its arm with his left hand, he grabbed its hair and kicked it with his knee. Blood flowed through Cinderwhisk's nose; it struggled for a moment and countered Rave. Even on the ground, it managed to kick Rave in his stomach with its left foot.
With speed and strength combined, Rave flew into a tree and even destroyed it.
Rave took a huge amount of damage; even the wound on his side opened up. But that didn't stop him; he didn't even rest for a moment and rushed towards Cinderwhisk again.
The battle was hard; this battle consumed not only strength but also put mental stress on Rave. However, he was able to continue fighting due to his passive skill, which allowed him to anticipate and dodge most of Cinderwhisk's attacks.
Rave knew that he could not defeat this creature with his current attributes alone; he was unarmed and relied on his skills only. He could also tell that his skill Thunder Rush only had 10 seconds remaining; he had only one plan in mind - to use the kukri that this creature had let go earlier.
While fighting Cinderwhisk, he slowly made his way to the kukri, and by the time he arrived, there were only 5 seconds remaining.
With little time remaining, he immediately picked it up from the ground; not only that, he also grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at the creature first. This move was unexpected by Cinderwhisk; as it couldn't think normally, it didn't immediately notice the sand coming towards its eyes.
RRROOOOAAARR
Cinderwhisk shouted and covered its eyes to clear them; yet after opening them, all it saw were clouds and trees swaying in the breeze. It didn't know what happened but felt 'peace.'
...
After throwing sand into Cinderwhisk's eyes, he gripped the kukri in his right hand and slashed through its neck, instantly separating its head from its body.
Cinderwhisk's body plopped to the ground as its head flew above and fell right after.
With the battle finished, stress and exhaustion immediately took over Rave's body. The skill Thunder Rush also disappeared right after, and he passed out on the ground.
Lucky for Rave, his battle with Cinderwhisk was seen by numerous other monsters who fled due to their spectacle and Rave's skill, which frightened almost every creature around him.
Somewhere in the forest...
Numerous monsters were running in every direction trying to flee somewhere else; they even encountered other adventurers like Rave, but they didn't care.
"What is going on?"
"Is it an outbreak? Go notify the guild!"
"Defend yourself; stick with your group and don't stray anywhere!"
Every adventurer in the forest didn't know what was happening but assumed it was an outbreak, so they tried to kill every monster they encountered, unknowingly causing chaos around them.