Lev swallowed unconsciously as he gazed at his next target, something he had chosen after a long internal debate.

  [Shade Brute - ??]

  The tall, grotesque monster, dark gray with black veins running over its body, moved on all fours. Its limbs were similarly disfigured, with one arm ending in a bone spike. Supported by inflated yet extremely strong muscles, it dashed around with bursts of speed that put all prowlers to shame.

  Similar-level prowlers, that is. Lev had no idea how high their levels went.

  Lev and Inna were currently on one of his shields, observing the brute from a few hundred meters away. The Master Guardian was free to join him as there were no other Classer teams present in the pit at that time.

  "This is still a bad idea," Inna commented for the third time.

  "I know," Lev readily agreed. "Which is why you're here."

  "I'm far from omnipotent. If something goes wrong, this will be the end of the line for you," She replied with a roll of her eyes.

  "I know," Lev repeated himself, eyes fixed on the target.

  The only viable target is the neck and spine. Everything else is too covered or tough for me to damage.

  Just yesterday, he was considering doing this in a few weeks. Yet here he was today, ready to face something thoroughly beyond him, just for a few skill levels.

  I don't know why I want to get stronger so desperately. There's literally no reason to back up this itch.

  Yet he believed it was valid. It was a weird conundrum.

  Spending the night meditating on his unnatural drive had yielded no results. The only far-fetched theory he could come up with was that it was related to his soul. That was the only thing shrouded in enough censorship to completely hide his own reasoning.

  "Ready?"

  Inna's voice broke him out of his thoughts. Lev nodded minutely, which was enough for the Master who vanished immediately.

  Here goes nothing.

  Lev drew his bow and aimed, the flat grassland between the pit and rocky terrain providing no obstacles. The arrow, filled to the brim with lightning mana, almost missed the monster. It hit the back of its hind leg, causing it to jerk around with a roar of pain.

  Lev almost fled then and there as the loud sound washed over him but forced himself to stay. With three disks behind him and two shields keeping him afloat, the plan was to stay at a distance and attack every time it missed the charge.

  Keyword, missed.

  Which it almost didn't as Lev hastily dashed to the right, the monster casually passing by at thirty meters of height. Lev sent a single glance at the ground where it had jumped from, seeing a small crater that sent tingles down his spine.

  Still, he wasn't deterred. The plan was never to kill the brute, only to get used to fighting it and leveling his skills. He had come prepared with a full mana pool and a guardian.

  Turning around, the monster was already preparing to leap again. Lev wasn't caught off guard this time, and he dashed to the left with an arrow nocked.

  Opportunity let him know exactly when he should fire the arrow to hit the neck, but Lev still missed. The charge was too fast and even the wind from its passing messed with his aim.

  Lev unconsciously crouched even further, this time descending a little with his dodge. His entire mind rebelled at the idea of getting even closer but he needed to utilize the disks. His range of manipulation was still less than thirty meters.

  The brute decided to forgo its earlier strategy of playing leapfrog, and Lev now found himself in a far more dangerous situation.

  Lev quickly flew backward to avoid the wild swings of its wide, meaty arms. What the monster lacked in speed, it more than made up in strength.

  Each swing sent intense tremors through the ground, which Lev could feel in his bones despite being over ten meters above ground.

  The Brute didn't even aim for the ground, just the residual force of the attacks was enough to tear it apart.

  Lev charged all three of the disks to the brim with lightning mana and slotted four arrows into the converter slot as he nocked one. With a deep breath, Lev's world seemed to slow down as he aimed at the monster's eye.

  He watched in fascinating slow motion as the only palm of the monster approached to squish him like a bug without a hint of recognition in its eyes. The insanity was just as omnipresent in them, if not even more so than the other monsters.

  Lev waited till the last moment before releasing the arrow and instantly bending backward at the waist while his shields descended.

  Two big changes in his flight let him know he had broken past the 2nd rank on the two remaining skills. His flight suddenly became far smoother, the twists and turns no longer overwhelming or even taxing. He felt light as a feather solely because of the significantly reduced weight on his mind all of a sudden.

  The monster charged forth with an anguished wail, the lightning mana in its eye rocking its skull, half-blinding it. Lev was much more confident now, fluidly gliding past its head and firing a lightning arrow at its neck.

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  The brute paused for a mere second as the lightning mana was discharged on its spine, which earned it two more disks on the neck.

  Lev tsked as the disks struggled to cut past the thick skin, wasting the lightning mana to burn a small area.

  Less than 70% mana left. I need to create a weak spot quickly.

  Lev recalled his disks and shot another arrow at the charging monster when his perception spiked to the extreme.

  Fuck.

  It took a small instant to notice the boulder flying at him as time was reduced to a crawl.

  Lev mentally grabbed his armor, overcharged his mana manipulation and barrier manipulation to the limit, and yanked himself to the right with all his might.

  The boulder passed mere inches from his face, letting him see the grass, dirt, and pebbles that made up its composition in horrifying clarity. He hadn't even seen when the monster had uprooted a part of the ground.

  Inna appeared for a split second in his peripheral, letting him know how close he was to getting rescued. Still, it didn't come to that, which Lev was grateful for.

  Time sped up again just as Inna vanished from his sight. He looked at the charging brute again, now angry at the mindless monster almost killing him.

  I didn't reincarnate to be done in by something named fucking "Brute."

  Lev fired another arrow at its other eye but this time the monster dodged, showing that it wasn't as mindless as it seemed. Lev flew to its blind-side, trying to sneak in a few shots but the Brute refused to let him out of sight.

  Oh, to hell with this.

  He stored the bow and summoned Stargazer before filling in the hollow edge with a barrier blade. Forming a long tube to his converter, Lev connected Stargazer to it and filled it with lightning mana.

  Dodging around the Brute, Lev now held a Stargazer filled with nearly 10% of his total mana, intent on bringing the monster down once and for all.

  He looked for an opportunity, which came quickly as the monster tried to grab him again. Flying nearly horizontally under its grab, his flight took him directly to the brute's neck.

  Got you. Lev thought with a wicked smile. Stargazer flashed in a wide arc in an overhead swing, burying itself in the monster's neck with a sickening squelch. The lightning mana was discharged immediately and explosively, the shockwave hurling him back and further damaging the monster's neck.

  When Lev stood back up, the Brute was already back up.

  When Lev prepared to fly up, it was already in front of him.

  When he finished forming his shields and started to ascend, its fist was getting larger in his vision.

  Lev dumped as much mana as he could into the 2nd rank of his armor skill while yanking himself backward, trying to mitigate the force as much as possible as the punch hit him.

  The fist connected with the power of a runaway truck, folding the barrier armor before it shattered. The illusion armor fared almost the same, sporting a new, much larger dent on the chest as Lev flew back like a cannonball.

  For several dozen meters, Lev bounced on the ground like a tennis ball. He came to a stop after over a hundred meters, thoroughly rattled. But even when his body refused to respond, his mind never forgot that there was a brute out for blood.

  Spitting out blood, his dizzy mind not caring if it was inside his armor, Lev formed two new shields close to his feet and summoned his barrier armor again. Sensing the growing tremors from the brute's steps, Lev flew up as fast as he could after strapping his feet to the shields.

  His vision stopped spinning after a few seconds just as the Brute prepared to leap at him. Lev tried to summon Stargazer, only to belatedly realize that it was still stuck in the monster's neck.

  Grimacing at the complication, Lev prepared himself to dive to its neck again. The monster was wary of letting him close which forced him to summon his bow again.

  Lev feinted, firing an overcharged lightning arrow, only to rush forward as the monster charged to interrupt him. Unable to stop the charge, Lev's flight went uninterrupted as he crashed on the monster's shoulder. The barrier armor absorbed the impact, preventing any further concussion or body damage.

  Before the monster could stop its momentum, Lev had already dashed for his weapon, which mercifully came out with only a little force.

  The monster roared in anger as Lev ascended again. He just looked at it in quiet rage, ignoring the Inna who was now remaining visible in the distance, ready to intervene in the slightest danger. Lev understood why, but he couldn't help but feel a little insulted.

  To think this beast would be the one to almost kill me.

  Lev barely heard the thought, almost foreign in how out of place it was despite feeling natural. It came from some distant part of his mind, someplace that had been locked away without his knowledge.

  He had less than 20% of his mana remaining, yet it didn't matter anymore. His hesitation had all but vanished as he raised Stargazer with just his right arm, once again filled to the brim with lightning mana.

  The monster sensed the change too, its roar more feral as it charged the pesky human again. The large gash on its neck or the blood gushing out seemed to be no hindrance to the Brute.

  Lev just gazed at it calmly as the Brute raised its bone arm to skewer him with all its might. Lev veered to the left, narrowly avoiding the tip as the force from the attack threatened to disbalance him in mid-air.

  He kept a tight focus on his armor, his willpower counteracting the wind pressure just enough to launch himself in a straight path, to the already damaged and bleeding neck.

  This time, the attack was more precise, aimed to further expand the previous cut. Stargazer cleanly connected with the last attack's result, lengthening the cut with deceptive ease.

  Lev's mind and muscles strained as he put all his might into the attack. He kept a tight leash on the lightning mana, not releasing it till Stargazer lost all its momentum.

  The glaive nearly popped out of the other side, cutting through most of the front of its neck. He allowed the lightning mana to further ravage the lethal injury as the Brute made a last-ditch effort to swat him away.

  The explosion blinded him but Lev refused to let it push him away. He had a job to finish. The fire and heat dispersed after a few seconds, revealing the upside-down Brute that was, while half-dead, still very much alive.

  It would take several minutes for it to pathetically bleed out, minutes that Lev didn't want it to live.

  So close to killing me, Lev giggled, unable to control it as the adrenaline fading away spiked again. The mere human who shattered the odds and reincarnated.

  Stargazer's blade hummed with mana, overloaded with the last few dregs of his mana pool. Two leaps saw him atop the monster's back, looking at the back of its exposed neck.

  Lev raised the glaive above his head as something shifted in his soul, anger surging within him for some unknown reason.

  I…

  He brought it down with an appalling squelch, yet he paid it no heed in his current state.

  The favored of Kassavin…

  Lev raised Stargazer again before bringing it down once more, uncaring of the shudders running through the Brute's body.

  The Challenger of the World's Decree…

  He was about to repeat the motion again when his body locked up, and an intense blinding headache brought him to his knees. Lev didn't even hear himself scream as his mana bottomed out completely, rendering him unconscious.

  It was a good thing too, for the pain would've been a traumatizing experience that would've followed him for his entire life.

  [

  You have slain [Shade Brute - Level 178]

  ]