After the initial clash, both parties didn't make a move, only eyeing each other like the maddest of lovers or the craziest of serial killers.
Roy stood opposite the 67 ft tall horned serpent, inspecting it.
『One-Horned Serpent』
Stage: Aura Monster
Level: 1
Status: Lord of the warm & cold river.
Hp: 3820/4400
Mp: 3000/5000
Str: 160
Sta: 180
Agt: 120
Endurance: 200
Special skills: Spirit Summoning, Water Blast, Greater Water Blast, ???
'It's really an aura monster!'
He felt surprised. He hadn't only clashed with an aura monster but also pushed it back.
'Guess they aren't that special after all.' Roy thought as he looked down at it disdainfully.
It was towering over him, scrutinizing him in disbelief.
'He is a mere unawakened?! That can't be!' The horned serpent, an aura monster to boot, couldn't believe that Roy was two stages lower than itself as he had wounded it, pushed it away, and even shattered its signature move with a single swing of the sword.
A person who was yet to awaken couldn't stand his ground against an aura monster, much less force him back. That was like common sense amongst monsters and humans alike. That's why it was having a hard time believing it had accurately measured Roy. And it was forced to believe that Roy was hiding his true strength.
Even if there were some other aura monsters in its shoes, they would have the same intense reaction to this situation.
Their eyes met.
Under its gaze, Roy was calm and collected, his demeanor no less than a sharpened sword.
Not a single trace of nervousness could be felt from his esteemed self, but beads of sweat could be seen oozing out of the horned serpent and sliding down its body.
"Whether you are hiding your true strength or you really are yet to awaken, won't I know when I attack him with my mana? Divine suppression!"
The horned serpent said and glared at Roy as a large amount of blue mana gushed out of his body and fell down on him like a boulder thrown from a height, suppressing him.
『The horned serpent has attacked you using its dense water mana』
As the beast's powerful mana pressed down on him hard, Roy's feet pressed against the ground.
Crack!
Spider cobweb-like cracks appeared on the spot just beneath his feet and stretched out like tentacles of doom, but Roy refused to bend his knees.
Its mana was like the wind.
It couldn't be grasped, but it could be seen and felt, and because a lot of it was gathered and acting on one person, it came as rather dense and ridiculously heavy.
Roy felt as if he was being crushed under a mountain, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
Veins popped up on his neck, his skin turned red, and his muscles spasmed, but he didn't bend in any way.
"Get suppressed!" The horned serpent roared out, increasing the output of mana.
A greater amount of dense water mana rained down on him. He felt greatly suppressed.
His feet eventually sank into the ground, but even then, his back remained straight, and his figure continued standing tall like an unbendable blade.
『Ding! The horned serpent has tried to immobilize you using a higher amount of dense water mana.』
『You have met the status check.』
『It failed to apply the immobilized debuff on you.』
『It has lost 1500 points of mana』
It was trying to bring Roy down to his knees, but it failed to do so.
Shocking!
The horned serpent gaped at Roy, and its jaw threatened to drop.
Seeing that it was low on mana and couldn't suppress Roy using it, he retracted it.
The pressure acting on him disappeared. Roy relaxed and looked back at it in pensive silence.
The mocking glow in his eyes betrayed the silence he was yet to break.
"You consider me your meal, yet you're the one being hunted down. Quite ironic, isn't it?"
Roy taunted the big ass monster, disdainfully staring at it like he was looking at dead meat.
"Don't be too complacent, human! The battle has just begun."
The hornet serpent hissed and glared at Roy poisonously.
If looks could kill, he would have already been dead meat.
"I don't like the look in your eyes," Roy said as eighty wisps of mana escaped his fingertips, and every two swirled and twirled around each other, eventually fusing into mana bullets.
"So what? What are you going to do about it?"
The horned serpent said and opened its mouth wide and lunged at him.
By then, forty mana bullets were created behind Roy. It was hidden from the serpent's sight by his body.
"Blind you!"
Roy shouted and waved his hands as it approached him with a wide open mouth. And in response to his action, several dozen mana bullets flew toward the serpent from over his head at the speed of a bullet. Before it even knew it, they charged into its mouth and left eye and plunged deep into the back of its throat and brain, respectively.
Kwargh! The monster roared and stumbled backwards, its eyes seeing red.
『Ding! You have landed critical hits on the horned serpent. It lost 1600 HP.』
'Its HP bar is half its original size.' Roy smirked. 'Attacking the areas of its body not covered by thick scales was the right choice after all.'
Roy didn't give it a chance to react and self-heal and started attacking it.
Whoosh!"
He swung his hands at it again and again, and each time he did so, forty mana bullets would manifest under the sunlit sky, move forward with lightning-fast speed, whiz through the air, and strike it all over the place.
It was forced left and right by the mana bullets drizzle.
'Damn, he is so cool.' Seeing the aura monster getting mauled by Roy, Julian became his hardcore fan.
'Control it, girl! Control it! Don't laugh!"
The maids were about to laugh out loud upon seeing how Roy was manhandling the horned snake, but they covered their mouths with their soft hands, not daring to let the pearl of laughter leave the tip of their tongues.
"Pfft!" Maya laughed.
"Shh." Aydin warned, "Keep quiet, or it will notice us."
"Sorry. It's being forced to shake like a belly dancer." Maya whispered, "I couldn't help but laugh at this ridiculous sight.'
