Fiends

Noah glanced around as he trudged the forest. He held in his hand two swords. The first Luke had given him and the second was a short sword he had gotten from one of his assailants.

Finding a Fiend wasn't all that hard as long as one possessed high perception for Essence. But this was something not many Battlesoul masters had as only those with General Grade Battlesouls could pick up on this. Noah who possessed the Silver Dragon Emperor bloodline and the Silver Dragon Eyes was even more at ease. He only had to glance at the area around him to notice a chaotic Essence residue, hinting at his prey.

Noah's body tensed as he got ready for battle. His twin Battlesouls flashed as they appeared behind him bringing with them an imposing aura. His right arm flashed with silver light as silver colored scales appeared to cover his arm up to his shoulder and transforming his fingers to sharp claws. His two swords were also covered with light as they were enhanced by his Overlord Sword Emperor.

Suddenly, a roar resounded as a 3 meter figure jumped out of the trees before him, bringing with it a chaotic flame aura. It possessed a humanoid figure but with hoarse skin and bulging muscles hinting at an impressive defense and strength. What surprised Noah was that the flames he had seen were actually manifested from within the Fiend's body. It could be said that the Fiend very literally embodied fire. The Fiend looked like a human like beast, with sharp claws for fingers and a row of viciously sharp fangs in its growling mouth. From its eerie red eyes, Noah could easily tell that it possessed only the basic intellect to hunt which would be of help to him during a fight.

A brilliance flashed in Noah's eyes as he observed this body but he couldn't think more as the Fiend immediately dashed forth with its flaming claw at the ready. Noah cursed, the Fiend was surprisingly fast causing him to execute his Void Steps technique to dodge to the side. Luckily now he could teleport 3 meters around him. Although it wasn't much, it was still better than when he initially learnt the technique.

His Silver Dragon Eyes soon operated as he sought to seek out the Fiend's weakness. Surprisingly, there were multiple weak spots in the monster's body which shouldn't have been surprising as it used a chaotic version of Essence. But although the Fiend had very low intellectual ability, its instinct was quite prime as it guarded each of these spots with a flame aura shield. Noah frowned as he saw this and knew he had no other choice than to battle it out with the Fiend.

This time, he took the initiative to dash to the monster unleashing a number of heavy slashes with Gravity Force. The Fiend snarled as it used its arm to block them but its hardened skin actually failed to endure the attacks launched at it, releasing a scarlet flow of blood that dripped onto the ground.

It roared in pain as punched out bringing with it a powerful force that threatened to smash Noah into pieces. Of course, Noah wouldn't be dumb enough to resist such strength. Although his body was stronger than most his level because of his Azure Dragon Art's body building exercise, he wasn't on a level where he could deal with a punch like that. He used Flicker to appear at the side of the Fiend and executed his next attack.

Gale Sword! His sword turned into a series of afterimages as he slashed at the Fiend's neck!

The Fiend's instincts let out alarms as it saw this attack. It roared out as flames poured out of its body to rise to the sky, releasing a shockwave that pushed Noah back cutting his attack short.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and patted his smoking leather armor. The Fiend's instincts were quite troublesome, if he were at the Intermediate Stage, he would be able to release Essence blades that could be used for long range and more importantly he would be able to execute the 2nd form of the Violent Storm Sword. Something that could prove very useful in this situation.

The Fiend on the other hand looked at him with a sliver of fear as it held its neck to reduce the amount of blood leaving its body. But soon that fear disappeared to reveal seething anger as it dashed towards Noah with impressive speed. The ground beneath it concaved with each step revealing the strength poured into that charge.

Noah, on the other hand, actually dashed forward too. He wanted to meet head-on with the Fiend! This was simply insane as the monster had at least twice the physical strength of his! Yet, he still dashed forward fully knowing this!

This was because he had activated his trump card. The Azure Dragon Art! He had run the Blood essence in his body to strengthen himself. Dragon Guard! A wave of Blood essence exited his body to create a layer of defense over his skin before he clashed with the Fiend.

An explosive boom sound rang out as waves of wind tore through the forest ravaging and uprooting the trees, a testament to the power used in that clash.

Noah, being the physically weaker one sustained a large amount of injuries despite the shield above his skin with some forces bypassing his skin to mess up his internal organs, causing him to feel the urge to vomit blood. But, he held it in! He wasn't done yet!

Azure Dragon Art: Rebound Strike!

Borrowing the force of the enemy, he could return their attack prowess towards them while also adding his strength into the mix. A move incorporated into the Martial art that was geared towards defeating stronger enemies!

Noah's dragonified arm flashed forward with frightening speed with his Gravity Force at the ready to increase his arm strength to the maximum. The power of this Rebound Strike was devastatingly powerful!

Even the Fiend's split second instincts warned it to dodge! But it couldn't! Because while Noah suffered the most injuries, it also suffered its fair share of internal wounds though they weren't as bad as Noah's. Knowing he was weaker, Noah had already prepared to gather himself after the clash but the simple minded Fiend couldn't think that far. It simply stood there stunned as it watched the powerful punch meet its face!

A thud sound rang out.

Noah sighed as he slowly lowered his arm which was in an uppercut stance. The Fiend's blown brain bits fell onto his body staining him with its gruesome blood. He used his right arm claws to take out a pearl sized core from the monster's abdomen before sending its dead body into his large World ring.

He panted as he placed his weakened body against a tree. His body hurt him with each movement he made. Indeed, it was a terrible idea to use Martial arts before reaching the Intermediate Stage. Thinking back to the battle, it was very easy for him to have won if he possessed a wider range of battle technique. Although martial arts were good, his body couldn't handle them for long and they were more geared for situations in his past life. Battle techniques would be a large help for him at the moment but as bizarre as it was he possessed not one but two of one of the rarest Essence affinities. He reckoned that he could only get these when he was admitted into the Soaring Star Academy.

Feeling his brimming Essence within his core, Noah felt he would soon level up to the 7th level of the Novice Stage. After thinking about it, he decided to return with just this one Fiend body, the mission reward for it was a nice 100,000 essence coins and if he sold the core, it would balloon to 130,000 showing how useful these creatures were. But looking at the core in his palm, Noah didn't feel like selling it, because he found out something baffling. He could absorb the chaotic Essence within it!