The legs felt like striking metal, as the vibrations from the impact were sent throughout my body, but—

Quickly changing the angle of my attack, I dived deeper before striking one of the limbs from the back.

Spurt!

The leg was cut off.

At first, I had to battle the bottom part of the leg, which had a claw-like structure on it, resulting in my strike being ineffective.

But the joints weren’t the same as those claws, paving the way for my sword to slice through them.

The spider stumbled for a bit, but having the support of its other legs, it quickly balanced its body before retreating from the scene to create distance between us—or at least it tried to.

I moved along with the spider, as my sword aimed for its other limbs, making the creature bleed with every passing second.

The monster’s hands were rendered ineffective, as they tried their best to attack me but failed miserably.

I increased my mana pressure so as to slow down the creature even further...

My sword moved in wide arcs, as every cut made the spider bleed.

Haa...

Taking a deep breath, I kept up with the monster’s retreat, as it tried its best to remove me from beneath its massive frame.

The monster even tried to jump high up into the air, but my mana pressure, coupled with the injured limbs of the spider, couldn’t really provide the creature with the necessary boost to apply force against the ground below.

Taking advantage of the situation, I activated my ability.

Mirage Clone.

My body split into seven identical versions of myself, as each of them dived even deeper, aiming for the hind legs, while the others aimed for the mid legs.

Everything was going well, until—

The monster realised it couldn’t really shake me off while retreating. The spider, as if resigning itself, simply let go of the support of its limbs, as its body began to touch the ground.

Seeing the sudden action, I immediately rolled back while dismissing my ability.

The dirt on the ground attached itself to my clothes, as I became one with it.

"GRAAHHH!"

The monster, quickly realising that I had moved away from its body, set its hands in motion to trap me so that I could not pull the same move again.

Eight limbs simultaneously shot in my direction, the only saving grace being their speed was significantly slower than the original due to my mana pressure, which was still active, limiting the monster’s power.

Taking a deep breath, I stabilised my mind, as my sword moved in perfect harmony with my body, deflecting all attacks while at the same time striking the spider whenever a good opportunity arose.

Seconds soon turned into minutes, as the monster remained standing, blood leaking from the injuries that were spread all over its body.

More than half of the spider’s limbs were cut off, while the entirety of the hands above its body were destroyed.

The creature before me was now on its last leg, with no way of being able to turn the situation in its favour.

The only suitable weapon at the spider’s disposal was its poison, which it shot from time to time in my direction.

Still... evading the liquid was quite easy.

Willing more mana through my muscles, I charged at the spider again in order to end the fight.

Stomping my feet on the ground below, I jumped high up into the air before landing atop the monster’s body.

As its hands were already cut off, the spider couldn’t really attack me.

All it could do was shake its body helplessly, hoping to make me fall off its back.

But I held on, aiming my sword at its back, as I pierced the blade deeper into its body. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

After a short pause, I removed the sword, making the spider roar in pain.

Walking a few steps ahead, I stopped just before its head, as I loosened my grip on the blade to finally decapitate the creature.

For the entirety of the time, the spider tried its best to do everything in its power to make me lose my balance, but I persisted.

My blade moved in a clean arc, as it was headed for the monster’s neck.

Spurt!

A head rolled down, as the spider’s body landed on the ground with a thud.

The fight was a little tedious, and not-so-enjoyable as I had expected it to be.

The mana essence from the Gold 2 began to be absorbed into my body, as I felt the dopamine release that followed the absorption.

There was also a repulsive feeling that accompanied the pleasure, though I had grown used to it.

After absorbing the entirety of the mana essence, I still felt that the next tier was far away.

Thinking for a while... maybe I should have just focused on the monsters at Gold 2.

Haa...

I still had a lot of things to do, and there was no use wasting any more of my time in this forest without tangible returns.

I had to speed up my hunt...

As I stood at the same place for a while, Chroma arrived beside me, as four of its heads slightly bowed, hinting for me to get on its back.

I complied as I sat on the hydra’s back.

Giving a small screech that felt loud at the same time, Chroma dashed towards the nearest Gold 2 beast.

A day was enough for me to polish my skills... maybe I should now just focus on absorbing the essence.

Sigh.

Since when did I grow indecisive?

Steeling myself, I gripped the sword in my hand tightly, hoping to end this trip earlier than the planned schedule.

There.

A pair of seemingly familiar wolves greeted me in the distance, as the hydra charged towards them.

The wolves, seeing Chroma, hesitated for a while before quickly abandoning their pride and trying to flee the scene.

Not that I would allow it.

Chroma charged at full speed, closing the distance within a blink of an eye.

Spurt!

My sword was already in motion.