Hero of Darkness

Chapter 12: The Big Hunt

In a dense forest full of tall & broad trees, a group of animals that could be called a mixture between deer and a predatory beast were eating grass peacefully.

But unbeknownst to these creatures, there were 2 sets of eyes looking towards them from a distance. One of them was a giant wolf with a full pitch black fur on its entire body while another was a man wearing a dark red hide around his waist. Both of their eyes looked as if they were here to kill everything that stood in front of them.

Kahn & Omega were using their Hunt Perception ability. While using it, Kahnʼs pupils dilated and he gained a more detailed and zoomed view of his targets. He could see the heat signatures of his prey from 20 meters far and even feel which one of the creatures had all their muscles completely relaxed.

”You take the left and Iʼll draw their attention. Attack as soon as I appear in front of them. And take down the one closest to the tree. Understood ?” Kahn looked towards Omega. Omega nodded and left without causing any unnecessary noises which could alert their targets.

Kahn silently progressed towards the herd by crouching through tall grass on both of his hands and legs like a four-legged animal would. He wasnʼt hasty nor clumsy.

He looked like a tiger waiting for a perfect time to attack. Kahn quickly activated his War Dominance aura as soon he reached near the herd. Strong pressure of gravity was exerted around a 5-meter radius and before these creatures could react, Kahn pounced towards the nearest creature while activating his Alpha Wolfʼs Claws and swung his right claw around the nape of the creature which was caught off guard & couldnʼt even move under the pressure of War Dominance.

Blueish blood started flowing on the ground as soon as his claws pierced through the hide which felt as tough as leather in a matter of seconds.

This sudden attack alerted the other members of the herd, and they tried to run away the very next second. Kahn had limited reach on the area he could cover under War Dominance Aura so some of them had full control on their bodies and started running off. Only to be attacked by a giant Dire Wolf from the opposite side.

Omega was very vicious unlike Kahn. He didnʼt go for a swift kill, rather plunged his teeth inside their necks and ripped apart the head out of their bodies. Blue blood spurted like a fountain on the green grass but the massacre didnʼt stop. Both Kahn & Omega dashed towards their respective closer targets and attacked in a preplanned manner. It was as if they had completely practiced their coordination. The massacre continued until there were 5 dead bodies on the ground. Out of the 9 of these creatures, 4 managed to escape while 5 went to heaven to meet their maker.

”Whew! I guess we got lucky.” Kahn said and put his right hand on one of the dead creatures.

”Absorb!”

[Host has acquired the following abilities :

Sprinter, Panorama vision, Wilker hide.]

”Oh, so these are called Wilker ?” Kahn learned the name of the species through the system. He imagined himself having the same tough skin as the Wilkers and his skin completely turned green like these creatures and small spikes appeared all over his body.

”Ugh.. I look like Killer Croc now.” Kahn deactivated the ability and collected the core. Meanwhile, Omega was tearing out the flesh and entrails of the other bodies with his large fangs as if he had been hungry for years. He only left out the cores for Kahn and nothing else.

Kahn had already recovered and now he was 4 times stronger than when in entered Vantrea through the void. His War Deity Body had also completed its first transformation and became twice stronger compared to before. And Kahn also ate the cores of small animals Omega hunted in the morning. And according to the system, he was now level 2 and his body Attributes & Stats had doubled as well.

Still, this was no excuse to be laid-back and hope things will go in his favor. He still remembered vividly how he barely managed to kill the wolves yesterday and survived by a hairʼs breadth. Otherwise, itʼd be him who was torn through & gutted down by the pack of wolves. So he didnʼt wish to waste any time.

Somehow, Omega had a proper understanding of which prey they could Hunt with their capabilities and which ones they shouldnʼt. It was more like an innate sense of his Dire Wolf species.

Thanks to that, Kahn didnʼt dare to attack various types of animals and predators in the jungle out of his foolishness. If even Omega who was now Level 15 didnʼt dare take a step closer to these creatures, itʼd be stupid of Kahn to target these monsters.

Kahn gulped down 2 of these cores after rubbing off the blue blood on them. He was already accustomed to it now and the gory scene in front of him didnʼt bother him at all. He kept the other 2 just in case he needed them later to either eat or use for some other purpose.

Ding!

[Congratulations to the Host for reaching level 3.]

Kahn didnʼt check his stats and looked at Omega.

”Letʼs go. Itʼs about time we hunt that damn Snake!” Kahn said with fervor, his eyes looking like they were after seeking revenge against someone.

Omega who had his fill of meat and innards nodded and arched down in front of Kahn.

Kahn sat on its back and they headed towards the north where there was a broad valley full of boulders and water streams. After reaching midway, they both stopped and looked towards a big nest made out of Tree logs and branches. Inside this nest which was the as same size as a tennis field/ground, lied a giant snake-like creature sleeping soundly and basking in the rays of the sun. In between its wound-up body were 3 giant eggs with a golden color shell.

In the morning, when Kahn & Omega started their hunting spree, they made a rookie mistake of not gauging their targetʼs strength. There was no strategy either, all they did was just waltz in and attacked their target. But unlike the Wilkers they hunted just now, this thing was a true Predator. Before Kahn and Omega even appeared in a 15-meter radius, it sensed them and attacked them instead.

To make the matters worse, it had greenish acid spraying out of its mouth which melted a tree log as soon it got hit. Kahn & Omega had no other choice but to run off for their lives like chickens running away from a butcher.

This creature had small horns protruding from its skull to the nape region, fangs & teeth of a snake and blue eyes & black tongue. Its body had extremely white scales which looked fortified in some regions like a saw.

This time, Kahn had a proper strategy. It was not like killing this creature was a must but he wanted that Poison ability which was very lethal. He could use it to kill his enemies and even melt some things like stone slabs or even a boulder if he needed to.

He wanted this type of skill because he didnʼt think thereʼd be many creatures like this one in the forest. This wasnʼt just some random nobody either. This snake-like creature looked like the boss of this area given how it was wide in the open and there was not a single animal or another monster that appeared near 2 kilometers in this area. This was its turf.

Even Omega wasnʼt strong enough to kill it. The reason why he didnʼt sense any threat the first time because this creature could somehow mask its presence and appeared only big in size. But after looking at the giant eggs, Kahn understood that this was a female protecting her eggs and thatʼs why didnʼt exude a noticeable aura or killing intent. There didnʼt appear to be any signs of another one like this so he had both advantage in numbers and ways to distract the creature. Kahn & Omega looked towards a big boulder which was sized the same as a house and walked towards it.

Luckily, this boulder was situated at a slope just in the direction of the nest. If they decide to push it from the edge, it would definitely roll down and hit the nest.

Both Kahn and Omega pushed the boulder with all their strengths after activating some of their brute abilities and finally pushed and rooted out the boulder. They made sure to not cause loud grunting noises which could alert the creature again. Once they were finally done, both took a small rest while Kahn planned his next move.

If this was Earth, current Kahn and his physical strength would make him as strong as Colossus from X-men who had a complete steel body. So moving this gigantic boulder with the help of Omega who was already strong enough to destroy a giant truck in a head-on clash was doable for them.

”Just like we did it last time. But we need to be accurate in our timing. Iʼll divert its attention and you push down the boulder. Just make sure you donʼt do it before it comes close to me. Or our plan fails and it later hunts us both till our deaths. Understood?” Kahn asked Omega.

Omega nodded its head in compliance. Kahn activated his newly gained Sprinter ability and ran with very fast and long leaps from time to time. He reached towards the entrance of the valley again.

Kahn stood there like he was going out on a war facing thousands of people by himself; with his broad shoulders and muscular body standing tall. As soon as he entered the sensitive area of the snake-like creatures, the creature opened its eyes again and looked in Kahnʼs direction.

HISSSS!!

The creature hissed at Kahn, trying to scare him and telling him to stay away. But Kahn didnʼt budge a bit, instead he activated his Alpha Wolfʼs Howl ability and howled like a true wolf in the direction of the creature. The intensity & amplitude of this howl was so high that it caused ripples on the water that was flowing nearby.

The next second, Kahn activated his War Dominance aura and stared straight into the eyes of the creature. This was a declaration of War.

The creature was angered to its core and finally lifted its complete body out of the nest.

10 meters tall snake-like monster with giant fangs stared at Kahn, with a look full of rage. It slithered in Kahnʼs direction to attack him.

”Omega, be ready or we both die today buddy!” Kahn spoke in a loud voice, he didnʼt expect the creature to be this big.

The creature kept slithering towards Kahn with a look of contempt and mockery as if an elephant was looking at an ant. It didnʼt attack Kahn hastily, rather examined him before making the final decisive attack.

Kahn then activated his sprinter ability again and ran in the opposite direction, which made the giant snake follow him as every big Predator liked playing with their food.

Only after running 500 meters away from his previous location did Kahn stop.

As soon as the Serpent reached 10 meters of his proximity, he shouted.

”Now!”

On the other side at the top of the slope, Omega finally received the command. He was already ready, he quickly ran and slammed his body on the giant boulder to give the final push.

Just as the boulder started rolling and gaining momentum due to the slope, the giant snake finally moved its head towards the direction of the noise and saw where the boulder was headed to... The Eggs!

It slithered its way across the small boulders and the water stream in hurry and paced towards the nest but it was very far because Kahn had already led it at a distance far away.

”Hit them from where they canʼt see it.” Kahn grinned. It was all part of his plan. Naturally, he and Omega wouldnʼt be able to do jack shit against a creature this strong. So he had no other choice but to use this method. He quickly adapted from their previous encounter, understood the surroundings and used the environment to his advantage.

The creature paced towards the nest with all its might and finally managed to reach it. But what awaited it was a giant boulder with so much weight and speed that there simply wasnʼt enough time for the creature to engulf or wound up and take the eggs away. With no other choice, it had the only option to face the giant boulder with its body.

It came in between the nest border which was made up of tree logs and put its entire body to stop the boulder or the eggs would be smashed to the bits.

It sprayed all its acid from the mouth at the incoming boulder, hoping that itʼd melt just in time.

BANG!!

A loud sound of two hard things banging against each other resounded in the area. Sadly, the creature overestimated its abilities and got smashed in the head with the giant boulder before it even started melting. Half of its body was squashed under the gigantic boulder as well. There was a defensive armor-like shell that appeared on its head in the last moment, clearly its lifesaving ability. But even that wasnʼt able to protect the serpent. And its body lied just close to the nest. Bearing all the brunt of the boulder and protecting its children at the expense of its life.

Kahn looked at the eggs, he clearly understood what his actions meant. He chose to use the maternal instinct of this giant serpent to protect its eggs and to force it to face off that incoming boulder. It was the only way he could kill it. Otherwise, he naturally wouldnʼt dare to do it until he was at least 20 times stronger than his current strength. And he wouldnʼt use Omega to fight it out till its last breath either just to gauge the Serpentʼs strength.

Kahn was sure that given the appearance and aura this creature in front of him exuded, it was definitely many times stronger than them.

The old him as Elric in his previous life would never do something like this no matter what but in this world in his second life, he had to do whatever he can to survive and become stronger. Just by how his strength grew after he killed monsters and ate their cores, there was a long journey of bloodbath ahead for Kahn. So he had to put aside his feelings & heart and do what must be done.

It was kill or be killed.

Kahn took a deep breath and came closer to the dead body. Only now did he notice that the creature was around 25 meters long and the body width was that of a width of a small car. This wasnʼt your average day-to-day monster, rather a rare species.

Kahn placed both his hands on the ginormous body of the serpent.

”System, tell me about this creature.” Kahn commanded his inner system.

[Scanning completed. Information unlocked.

Species : Somir

Description : A descendant species of one of the 5 ancient Godbeasts, the Basilisk.

Level : 40

Abilities : Venom Acid, Acute Sense, Paralysis Gaze, Poison Immunity (Grandmaster/S Rank)

Note : Host is advised to Absorb the abilities with the bloodline of this monster & must eat the core.]

To this information, Kahn only stood still like a stone statue. Only after a dozen seconds he broke out of his shock and shouted

”HOLY FUCK!”