The Uruk.
Its name had been said many times already, but not much about it had earned the same treatment.
The Uruk was a dragon-esque monster, but only in the sense that there wasn't really anything else from the Heavenly World that could be compared to it.
Its body was as large as a dragon's, spanning several tens of kilometers easily. It had scales running across its entire body that even the strongest weapons couldn't pierce, and its reptilian snout was perfect for breathing storms of fire onto its victims.
The beast didn't have wings. Its body was far too heavy to lift organically. However, owing to its enormous physical strength, it could leap high enough into the air for it to practically be flying.
That massive physical strength and form, along with the occasional elemental abilities it used, made it impossible for the average hunter to challenge.
Hell, even in the wider world, there weren't many who'd dare to challenge it.
It was an incredibly powerful beast.
But it wasn't the most powerful.
From what Damien heard, he felt that the creature couldn't compare to a Primal Sovereign or some of the more terrifying beasts he'd met like the Azure Dragon.
Its description seemed exaggerated, and while its capabilities weren't anything to laugh at, he also didn't think it was strong enough to scare him.
He maintained those thoughts when he saw it in person, but he understood where the rumors came from.
'That thing is a real beast.'
It was ugly with no semblance of humanity at all.
That wasn't to say more humanoid beasts provoked a sense of security, it was more a look into the creature's eyes.
Even dragons had eyes filled with intelligence. There was a reason to both fear and revere them, whether they had sentience or not.
The Uruk had a face straight out of a horror movie, and its eyes were deep and soulless. It lived only for blood and territory, something only the most barbaric of people could ever grow to worship.
It lay there, slumbering in a clearing large enough to build several cities on, taking up the majority of the space.
Damien and Thalia were roughly a thousand kilometers away still, but that was barely an inch to someone of Damien's strength.
He gazed at the beast, trying to gauge anything from it, however…
'...as expected, it's easier to do it firsthand.'
Thalia would be safe at this distance.
Damien knew the Uruk's strengths, and it was up to him to find its weaknesses.
Was there really a need for him to wait?
"I'm engaging."
He left those words for Thalia, but by the time she registered them, he was already gone.
'First off, let's test those scales.'
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Damien flashed away.
He could barely teleport as he'd only skimmed the surface of this world's Spatial Laws, but his speed was more than enough to mimic the act.
He pulled his fist back, covering it in barrakh, and slammed it forward against the Uruk's snout.
It was quite a loud movement.
Naturally, the sensitive beast was immediately alarmed by his presence.
Its eyes flashed open, and the first thing it saw was the reason why it felt a dull pain rattling through its skull.
Barrakh exploded outward, creating a flurry of black clouds around Damien and the Uruk.
The impact force of Damien's strike slammed the beast's head into the ground, but it rapidly recovered, almost completely absorbing the impact into its body without a problem.
ROOOOOAAAAAAAR!
It let out a violent roar as it scanned the surroundings for its attacker.
Without detecting even a flicker of his visage in the vicinity, the Uruk attacked wildly.
It spun its body in a circle, using its thick tail to slam through everything within its radius.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Glass-like trees shattered and exploded, sending shrapnel flying into the air.
Countless beasts were left without homes and rapidly scrambling away, wondering just who the hell decided it was a good idea to provoke the Uruk.
And Damien was standing in the air, totally unaffected by its outburst.
'Those scales are no joke. With a defense like that, I'd probably need to use Destruction Laws if I wanted to do any damage.'
Unfortunately, he didn't have access to those.
'So just blindly attacking until it drops dead isn't an option.'
It was a shame, but it was pretty obvious this would be the outcome.
'Alright then, let's move on.'
Damien's arsenal was pretty limited right now.
He could use barrakh just as proficiently as he could use mana, and his capacity for it was nigh unlimited. However, when it came to laws, he was still quite weak.
The progress he'd made in comprehending them was quite pitiful over the past year, but it was mainly because he didn't actively try to comprehend them.
He was allowing his body to naturally adapt to the laws so they came to him instead. This way, he'd meet them in their purest forms, which would allow him to gain more knowledge on the alternate cosmos itself.
He made this decision for his long-term benefit, but in the short term, it was quite inconvenient.
In any sense, Damien had a ton of experimenting to do before he could actually kill the Uruk.
But since he was quite a sturdy specimen himself, the Uruk wouldn't be able to kill him while he did.
At least, that was Damien's assumption from what he'd seen and heard thus far.
To see if it was the truth, all he could do was take action.
Damien charged back into battle.
The Uruk was currently looking for an enemy on the ground. It didn't know he could fly, which was his advantage.
He didn't want to give it up easily and let the beast start confronting him in the sky as well, so before he attacked, Damien returned to surface level.
And he went berserk.
He used his fists as his main weapon, practically engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Uruk.
Explosions began to cover the jungle over a radius of several hundred kilometers in every direction except the one where Thalia was.
Damien did say he wasn't going to opt for a physical battle with the beast, but while he was testing its capabilities, this was still the best method,
Therefore, he attacked like a beast as well.
The scene was hard to describe.
Well, it wasn't really, but from Thalia's perspective, the scene was the most improbable thing she'd ever seen.
A human and a massive beast were wrestling, throwing each other to the ground and slamming into each other's bodies with all their power.
And that human wasn't showing any signs of exertion as he went blow for blow with the Uruk.
'This is…a real battle?'
Thalia's eyes were as wide as saucers, practically popping out of her head.
She'd never seen anything like this before.
She didn't know a human could have such power.
She suddenly had to reevaluate Damien entirely.
And within only a few minutes, her reasoning for watching this battle changed completely.
Even if Damien was hurt, she didn't think she could help him.
She now understood why he seemed to laugh at her when she confidently came and claimed that she would save him.
But she still had every reason to be here.
Her instincts screamed at her.
Somebody needed to witness this moment.
The moment humanity overcame the wild.
It was a place the tribe had been yearning to reach for its entire length of existence.
And Damien was about to take them there.
That was what she felt as she watched him.
