"I don't have time for this. Move out of my way!" Alpha shouted, as he got back to his feet. Using the light emanating from his body, he tried to get a better view of what exactly was in front of him.
It was a creature with six legs and a silvery armour plating its entire body. Its face was helm-like, with two horns protruding from it; a longer one at the top and a shorter one at the bottom.
Even though Alpha had no experience dealing with metal, he could tell that the material that covered its skin was many times more durable than the wood covering his. If he wanted to beat this thing, he would have to find openings where it's amour wasn't protecting it.
~I'll try getting around it,~ he decided to himself, before dashing towards the creature.
He made a quick feint to the right, before suddenly turning in the opposite direction, hoping that the creature would be too large to react in time. However, it just repeated what it had done before, raising its two front legs into the air, and causing mini tremors to spread throughout the ground.
"Move!" Alpha shouted right after he had regained his balance. He brandished his claws, before aiming to stab at the creature in the eyes. However, just like before, it caused mini-tremors that sent him flying back.
The concept of weight was foreign to him, so he couldn't understand why the creature was able to toss him so easily. But one thing was clear, if he were stronger, perhaps he would've found a way out.
~If I had those techniques like Pagan, I could've dealt with this creature easily,~ he thought to himself in exhaustion.
He hadn't realized it before because he was so caught up in the pursuit of getting to Lucius, but the fatigue caused by running while using full cowl for so long was finally catching up to him.
He tried stabbing at the creature several more times, but each time he was met with the same counter attack. He thought that perhaps he could out last it, through sheer will alone. But even willpower had its limit.
Once again he was limited by what he was. A mere leaf creature.
It was a common understanding that creatures of low tier were inferior to others. This was especially true for the laevyes who were meant as prey for all the other forest creatures. Among them, perhaps one or two laevyes would cry out.... realize that this sort of life was meaningless. But it didn't matter if nothing could be changed.
However, it could be changed. Lucius changed it, Lucius answered Alpha's cries, his cries to become something better.
~Yet here I am. His blessing's wasted. Why?~ he thought to himself, as more and more scratches filled his body with every attempt he made to get by the creature.
~Was it because I didn't train hard enough?~ he thought to himself, pumping absurd amounts of radiant energy into his legs as he made another attempt.
~Did I not run enough laps? Were the rocks I carried not heavy enough?~ he asked himself as his opponent sent him flying back once again.
~No. No one worked harder than me. No one, not even Lucius,~ he answered himself, as he stood back up.
~Then why? Is this really just what I was meant to be, weak?~ he thought to himself. The radiant energy that was circulating through his body now felt like molten lava. And his very skin was beginning to steam from the heat he was emitting.
"Tell me. How do I become strong like you?" he asked, seeing his massive adversary as something he wanted to become. "How do I become immovable like you are?" he continued, pumping even more radiant energy into his body.
Cracks began to appear on his crux, and the wood on his skin had begun to catch fire. Soon, half his face was a fiery mess, and the other half so steamed up that it couldn't even be seen.
"I need an answer. Is it that armour of yours? Is it your extra legs? What, what is it that makes you so strong? Because I know you didn't train as hard as I did," he whispered to himself, before brandishing his now flaming claws.
[『Alpha』 has met system requires, special event has begun. Ability 『Surpass』 has been activated, strength stat has been doubled.]
[『Alpha』 has unlocked new auxiliary title 『First to the event』. During system events Alpha's stats will increase by 40% .]
"If it really is your amour, or yours legs," Alpha spat out, steam coming out of his mouth with every word he spoke. "Then I will take them from you and wear them as my own," he finished, every fibre of his body bulging just as he rushed towards the creature with a new found speed.
***
"My lord, all the enemy creatures on the front lines seemed to have been killed by this strange red flower," a salamander creature reported.
"Then lead the troupes further in. Find the source of the moon's wrath," a large, 8 foot tall salamander replied, while looking into the fiery distance.
"Honour guard, with me! We will storm their base!" the leader shouted to his army, before running towards the temple.
A good number of salamander soldiers stayed behind, killing off any stranglers they found in their path. At this point the fire had become massive, and even as they fought, wisps of it burned at their skin.
However, this did not seem to bother them much. They had a thin layer of mucous covering their skin that made the fire have nearly no effect on them. And whatever burns they did incur were instantly healed, as if they had high grade regeneration.
These were the Zeldraves, the salamander people of the woods.
As the Salamander lord was running through the fiery forest, a black creature landed right next to him before running along side him.
"My lord, there is a purple mist up ahead. We believe it to be a mid-level poison. Though it's effects are interesting," the black creature whispered into the lord's ears.
"This is war, speak clearly. What are it's effects? Are you saying our immunity does not work on it?" the lord shot back, running even faster than before.
The clear difference in strength between him at his other men was apparent. He was running at a pace with which none accept the scout could keep up with. And even then, it was because the scout was running on all fours, whereas the lord kept his dignity and ran on two.
"The poison causes insanity, my lord. Three scouts have fallen victim to it and are currently incapacitated. However their regeneration does not seem to have been affected," the scout said in between breaths.
"Hmm. Collect samples, take them back to Trel. I'm sure she'll be happy to study this," the lord replied promptly before gesturing for the scout to leave.
"There's a trap up ahead, we'll be going aro-" the lord was about to say, before an incredibly fast moving object came rushing towards him.
In one swift movement, he ducked, before lashing out his tail in an attempt to catch whatever it was that had tried to attack him. However he was met with a dismembered tail instead.
Realizing he missed he attempted to grab the creature, but was instead met with four stabs to the torso.
"Get back!" his men shouted, only noticing the threat after it had its chance to deal damage.
The creature in front of them was currently glowing bright yellow, and though it looked like an arachnid, it was clearly too fast to be one.
"What is that?" the lord's men asked, as they tried to get a proper grasp of the situation. Whatever it this thing was, they estimated that it was at least fourth tier. But even then, this level of agility shouldn't have been possible.
"What are you?" the lord asked as his wounds healed, staring at the creature dead in the eyes.
For a moment, the creature stared at the lord's wounds healing wide eyed. However this look of awe was quickly covered before it backed away and ran up a tree, disappearing into the forest.
Whatever it was, was highly intelligent. Seeing that it couldn't cause any long lasting damage to the salamander lord, it retreated, though this only left the lord angry.
"What the hell is going on in this forest. Glowing creatures? Red painful flowers? A moon's wrath but a moon after the first was let off?" the lord asked.
The lord would've liked to torture the creature and get his answers, but it was simply too fast and too agile to hope to catch-up to.
