The sky was painted a fiery orange as if the sun was in a hurry to go down and leave the world to the mercy of the night.
The birds and cricket had started their evening chorus, singing their lullaby to the world, bidding farewell to the day that had just passed.
As the sun continued to sink lower, Nyla urged her mount to pick up its pace, eager to reach their destination before nightfall.
Their ranking had also stabilized as they had started hunting and going towards the eastern side. The previous rank of Purple Lovebug, which was thirty-two, shot up and became eighteen with two hundred thirty points.
*Howl!*
Suddenly they heard a low growling sound, coming from up ahead. They looked carefully, but there was no sign of any beast or danger nearby. They continued on, but the sound grew louder and more menacing.
Soon, Rio noticed the bushes were rustling in the distance, and a shadowy figure emerged with glowing green eyes that seemed to pierce the darkness.
Nyla's eyes widened as she recognized the beast before them.
She muttered, "That's a Shadow Cat, a Black-stage beast. It's infamous for its stealth and ferocity in the darkness."
Most of the beasts were taken from The 'Kingdom of Beast' Game as the AI Robot makers could easily design these creatures for the tournament since they already had all the information regarding what abilities beasts had.
Rio prepared himself as he cautiously summoned his silver-bloom king sword, his gaze was locked onto the beast's movement as he inspected the beast with his [Heaven's Eyes].
<<<<
[Name: Shadowcat]
[Type: AI Robot]
[Physical Power: 160]
>>>>
The stats of the AI monster was different than the original beast from the Land of Asura since these creatures didn't have a core and used other sources to keep functioning but their physical power was a lot higher than the Giant Shadow Viper Fox Rio had previously fought with.
the Shadowcat leaped out of the bushes with lightning speed, its sharp claws and teeth gleamed in the moonlight.
"Let me handle it," Rio said, his tone was calm but his gaze was not leaving the Shadow Cat's body.
He wanted to test his new strength after absorbing the lord beast's core that increased his purple stats points massively and also wish to learn the pattern of how this creature fought so they could travel faster.
Nyla nodded, commanding her Frosty, directing it with precision to evade the beast's attacks.
The boy vanished from the back of the white wolf and appeared right behind the Shadowcat.
His body buzzed with thunder, as he rushed towards his target which noticed a human threat.
Rio's foot muscles strained as he streaked towards the creature with a cracking blue light, landing a powerful blow on the Shadowcat's side.
*Howl!!!*
The beast let out a furious growl that was mixed with torment and annoyance. It glared at the boy and swung its massive claws toward Rio's head.
The boy ducked and rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the beast's strike.
As the Shadowcat turned to face him, Rio rose up on his foot and charged forward with lightning-fast reflexes.
He used his silver bloom king sword to parry the beast's attack and sent his thunder-enchanted fist that buzzed with energy to strike the creature, sending it reeling backward.
The Shadowcat stumbled, but quickly regained its footing and lunged at Rio with its dagger-like sharp claws.
A glowing blue figure danced around the AI beast buzzing with thunder, dodging and weaving as he attacked the creature.
Rio landed a few more blows, making many wounds over the Shadowcat's body.
The beast was a robot so it wasn't feeling pain but the continuous damage was still ruining its internal hardware.
From a distance, Nyla watched the fight with bated breath. She could see the calmness in Rio's eyes, and it made her happy to see he was able to handle a black-stage beast without much effort.
She could easily slaughter this black-stage AI beast as she was at the peak of Black-stage but the girl saw her beloved Man was just playing with the Shadow Cat as if gauging the beast's strength and movements to learn the battling pattern.
She commanded Frosty to avoid the Shadowcat, hoping to not disturb Rio.
Soon, his silver-bloom king sword glimmered with intense thunder, charging his attack for a final strike.
The boy shot forward, landing a slice cut on the Shadowcat's neck, beheading it in a second.
The head rolled on the ground, sending the other half of the beast's body crashing to the earth which splashed black liquid all around.
The boy was done learning the beast's fighting style so he decided to end the fight without wasting more time.
Nyla let out a sigh of relief and cheered with a vibrant smile, watching as Rio stood over the defeated creature.
She dismounted from the white wolf and went towards the boy. The girl was joyous as she said in a happy tone, "You're so strong... I thought it would be hard for you but you were just playing with that AI robot."
Rio turned around, calling back his silver bloom king sword in mind sea as he asked, "We are only seventeenth with this black-stage beast."
"Don't worry, sweetie. We have already entered the high-stage beast area, we will probably get into the top ten rankings if we don't hold back." Nyla reassured him.
She continued with a lively smile on her face, "And you know, there are chances that we only encounter the Shadow Cats on the eastern side of the island, as the previous National Military School Tournaments didn't use more than four types of AI creatures.
Most of the time they focus on designing the eleven special beasts for the tournament which is the main boss of the show.
We already met Shadow Cat and Pit Rat so there are going to be other two types of the beast on each level that we may discover in the west."
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Edited By: TheWhiteSnow
