"I need to say that from what I saw, your strength is above someone who's ranked 69." Rae smacked her lips and turned back to face him. "Want to fight me?"
"The blood will clot if we don't bleed the body." Arthur pointed at the coyote as he diverted her attention. It seems that worked as she turned panicky. "We'll a need a blade for that," Arthur said.
"We don't have that here and there's no need," Rae waved her hand and white light, that danced around like fabric, emerged from her hand.
The ethereal fabric seemed to be controlled by her. It wrapped itself around the coyote's feet and held it upside down in the air. With another wave, the fabric turned into a blade and cut off its heads cleanly from the base of its neck.
"You could've just cut off its blood vessels."
"As if I know where they are. It's not like we're eating its head."
"There's no we. I'm out." Arthur began walking away as he wanted nothing to do with this person. The further he was from the limelight, the better it was for him.
"Wait!" She called out but Arthur had no plans of waiting. "Please wait!" The hint of panic made Arthur turn his head. He saw her looking at him and then she looked in the direction of the ruins.
"Someone is trying to steal our food."
Arthur used his detection rune at her words and found that several monsters were heading their way. He was confused for the reason and realized it must be the stench of blood that has drawn them.
"Just leave the body here. Furthermore, you can probably handle it by yourself."
"I can't fight them while protecting the food."
"Did you just ignore the option of leaving it?" Arthur paused and then he heard a growl coming from her stomach. He was stunned since they haven't been here for long in the dungeon for anyone to get hungry.
"I… have a high metabolism."
"Find another prey."
"There's none that would be enough to sate my hunger." She looked at him with her scarlet eyes like a puppy would. Arthur mulled over it for a second and decided to take advantage of the situation.
"Tell me how you sneaked up on me without me noticing and I'll help you." Arthur wanted to know what kind of ability was that. After all, even his detection didn't work on her.
"It's…" She hesitated.
"Welp, I guess you're on your own," Arthur said and a beastly growl came from behind the trees. As they turned to look at it, it was a giant bear with spikes over its body. It looked at the body that was hovering mid-air with greed and hunger.
Another sound came from behind them as a giant serpent hissed, coiling around a giant tree. It looked at the two with its giant eyes as its tongue flailed in the air.
"This ethereal fabric allows me to conceal my presence at certain conditions." Rae finally gave in and answered him as she saw that even if she wanted to leave the coyote here, it would be hard to run away from these two beasts. Both of them were at the high-tier so it was hard for a single rei-ranker to take them down.
"I didn't sense you even with a skill of mine."
"It… can also deflect magic at certain conditions."
'Jeez, how overpowered is that fabric.' Arthur was amazed and nodded as he turned to face the serpent. He didn't plan on leaving before absorbing the coyote, to begin with. However, he was looking for the time she would be distracted.
"I'll take the serpent and you can handle the bear," Arthur told her since he had a special enmity toward this family of monsters. After all, he can still remember how that giant serpent almost ended his life.
"Can you handle a high-tier monster?" Rae asked with interest but Arthur simply shook his head.
"I can hold it off at most." He didn't wish to reveal that he was strong enough to take them both down easily. However, it seems that Rae didn't have a problem doing that. Her only fear was her food being snatched.
"Alright, that's good for me." Rae placed the coyote's giant body on the ground as she walked toward the bear. Arthur glanced at her as he prepared himself.
The bear roared and started attacking right off the bat. The fabric danced around Rae's hands as it stretched and protected her. The monster in front of Arthur wasn't any different but Arthur simply used his new rune, Restrain.
The mana rope held the snake into the tree and it began to thrash around. The trees broke down and Arthur simply used more ropes to stop the snake from slithering. The snake couldn't move much because of its lacking strength and Arthur thought he could see tears in its eyes.
"Sorry bro, I'm not the boss around here." Arthur shrugged as he waited on the side. He had decided to make this Restrain rune his 'ability' in front of people. So even though it wasn't overpowered, he would still be useful in parties and other groups.
He watched as Rae massacred the poor bear. She was stronger than Arthur if he didn't use his Release rune. This monstrous was stronger than someone who can absorb the monster's essence to get stronger.
'Oh right,' Arthur remembered and walked toward the coyote. He touched it and saw Rae's head jerk his way.
"Do you have a nose at the back of your head? Jeez. I'm not stealing it." Arthur said and Rae's attention was pulled back toward the bear after looking at Arthur suspiciously.
He couldn't believe the audacity of this person claiming the food that he hunted as her own and still doubting that he would steal.
[Agility has increased by 1.]
[Agility has increased by 1.]
He read the notifications as he watched Rae fight the bear. Although the word fight was inappropriate since it was one-sided bullying.
The serpent hissed as it began thrashing about. It seemed to sense its end as it looked at Arthur with begging eyes. Arthur sighed as he shook his head apologetically. The serpent's body began glowing as the poison began coming out of its scales spreading to the surrounding.
"Rae, this monster is about to poison your food," Arthur called out and Rae turned her head with such ferociousness that the serpent flinched.
"You dare?" The fabric turned into a spear and impaled the bear's head before Rae began walking toward the restrained serpent with anger. The fabric covered the poisoned ground as she walked upon it and kicked the serpent away, making it slam into a tree before uprooting it.
Arthur unrestrained the monster and it ran away from Rae. She looked at him with a questioning look and he simply shrugged.
"My mana is over." It was far from being over, but she didn't need to know that. "I did as I promised and now, I'm leaving."
"You don't want any food?" Rae pointed at the coyote but Arthur shook his head. The meat would be extremely hard to chew given the mass and muscles of such a monster.
His words seemed to make Rae emotional as if he had spared her of a great calamity. She nodded before turning toward the coyote. Before she could say anything else, Arthur ran away from her.
He had no plans of befriending the number one ranker of this year. He didn't know if there were hidden dragons among the rest of the students, but this one was monstrous. Her ability and physical strength were so overpowered that he doubted she gained them through natural means.
Arthur followed the trail on the ground and the leftover poison as he tracked down the serpent. Luckily, he managed to catch up to it before it managed to hide. Arthur jumped high in the air and kicked it in the back as it hissed.
If the monster could talk, it would ask the heavens why Arthur was so fixated on it. Sadly, it didn't know the existence of something called Stats Points for Arthur.
'Ruki, kill it for me.' Arthur commanded as he restrained the monster.
'Gladly, my lord.' Ruki replied as she appeared from his shadow and flapped her wings. She soared in the air before she dived down, her feet turning into shadow blades. They cut across the serpent's flesh and ended its life.
Even though her stats were half of Arthur's, her ability was destructive toward the living tissue. Compared to the normal ether, the shadows had a higher penetration ability.
The monster died after being attacked by Ruki again and again.
'What about me, Master?' Arthur heard Lilo ask in his head and sighed. He felt as if he had two kids who vied to win his praise. Well, Kira was sadly not here. A dragon, a shadow queen, and a wolf. That would be a cool combination.
'Sorry Lilo, I want to keep you a secret since you're so strong.'
'Hehe, alright, Master.' The dragon laughed happily at his praise and fell asleep inside his consciousness again. It seemed it needed more sleep because it was still a toddler.
Arthur asked Ruki to kill the serpent because he wanted to test something. As he touched the monster and absorbed it, he confirmed his theory.
[Agility has increased by 1.]
[Agility has increased by 1.]
So, this proved that even if one of his followers killed the monster, he can still absorb it as it would count as his. If that was the case, what if he had an army of shadow creatures?