The next day, when Leo, Ellie, and Ashley were all speeding through the forest at a pace that eclipsed a casual jog, Ellie suddenly stopped. Her claws dug into the mud, nose rising like she had picked up something. Leo, having practiced using his own enhanced nose, tried to pick up the scent too.

It was faint, different from the wet mud, dry mud, wood, and general grassyness. But it was one he recognised.

“Blood.”

“Let’s go then!” Ashley said, a tinge of haste and excitement in her voice.

Tilting his head, Leo said, “Lead the way Ells, you’re better at this than me.”

The little dragon nodded with glee and darted further into the dense foliage. Leo followed closely with Ashley right behind him. He was cutting apart what stood in their way, opting to not just go full monkey mode and dance across the trees. As fun as it sounded, Ashley just wasn’t equipped to follow.

And she’d made it very clear that he was not to pick her up and carry her at: “The speed of fucking sound.”

Lesson learned on day one.

Emerging into a small clearing, Leo instantly spotted the source of the scent. A body. Or, at least, half of one.

Ashley caught up a moment later, her expression softening after the revelation. Leo felt her suck in a breath, and before he could stop her, she bellowed.

“Anyone out there?! We come in peace!”

“What are we, approaching aliens?” Leo groaned, wincing as his ears recovered from the volume.

But before Ashley could make a witty reply, a soft voice called out across the woodland, a call for help.

The pair nodded at one another, and Leo scooped up the—currently in dragon form—Ellie. She didn’t grumble about being put into Leo’s soul-space, this was the decision they’d made. Keep her secret from any other humans until they were sure they could be trusted. This was mostly paranoia on their part, but it was to be expected when a peak-level multiversal threat had openly declared his intent to murder both Leo and Ellie.

Within moments, both Leo and Ashley pushed through a bush into the path of drawn weapons. Leo, arriving first, raised his hands to capitulate, it was purely for show. And for their safety.

Taking in the scene before them, it was a group of ragged, scared looking people. They sat between the levels of fifteen and forty-five. A quite large discrepancy until he noticed that they had children with them.

There had been no children within his tutorial, and even when he’d returned back into his hometown, he’d not really encountered that many. There were parents looking for lost children, however, and Leo hoped they hadn’t been put into their own hellscape.

“Put the weapons down,” Ashley said, pushing past Leo’s arm. “It won’t do you any good. I already said we come in peace.”

They started lowering their weaponry, glancing between one another for reassurance. It appeared they lacked a leader.

“What are you guys doing out here?” Leo asked, putting his hands down slowly.

There were three men, two women, and two children. The children looked to be between the ages of ten and fifteen.

“We’re—” a woman began speaking, then lowered her voice as she glanced around. “We’re being hunted.”

“Hunted by what?” Ashley asked casually. It made Leo think about how being hunted was a casual day.

She shook her head in fear.

“We came out here to–to gain some levels,” a man said, who was dressed in mage-like starting robes, and was the second highest level among them. “But we can’t get home. Every time we try, it comes for us.”

“You came out here with your children on purpose?!” Ashley all but screamed. “That’s mental.”

Leo had to agree it was a little irresponsible. But maybe they had their reasons.

“We had to! We have to get them levels too!” the man argued.

“Right… But why so far into this forest?” Ashley argued back.

This was getting nowhere fast. Ashley was clearly hurting more than her sense let her see beyond. Looking at all the scared faces, especially those of the children, Leo knew exactly what to do.

His aura came out like a little pulse, a wave that wasn’t tangible, but calmed the entire group all at once. Ashley turned to him with a frown that morphed into a slight wince. “Sorry. Kinda started losing myself.”

Leo just gave her a smile and nodded. He approached a young boy, grime stricken and carrying a small sword. “What’s your name?”

The boy glanced at the adults, then back to Leo, but he wasn’t scared anymore, his breathing had calmed. “I’m Bruce.”

“Bruce, huh, strong name,” Leo said, smiling. “I’m L—You can call me Spartan.” He wasn’t sure why he decided on hiding his name, or why he went with Spartan, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time. He ignored the snort of a laugh behind him.

The boy’s eyes lit up with recognition, voice filled with admiration. “Like in the movie?”

Leo nodded with a grin. “Now, do you know what’s hunting you?”

“It’s a big snake, I think.” He put his arms up and pulled them far apart. “It’s so big, it’s like the trees! But bigger!”

“Oh, wow.” Leo nodded. “You’ve been really brave, huh?”

The boy sniffed, tearing up as his courage faltered. “It’s so scary. Can you help us, please?”

He gave him a winning smile, bright and radiant. “What else would a Spartan do?”

Leo walked back over to Ashley, who was looking at him in a way that made her look like she was going to strike like a snake.

“You’re good with children, Spartan.” She winked, a smirk forming.

“Had enough practice with two of them lately,” he said, filled with as much love as he could.

She didn’t even notice until he’d taken two steps further away from her, enough to dodge the swing that almost cut the air apart beside him.

“I’m not a child!” she roared.

“Anyway!” Leo called over her raging, “I’m guessing that you all have a place you came from that you want to get back to, right?”

Nods all round.

“And this snake creature attacks you when you try to leave?”

More nods.

He addressed the highest level of the group. “Did you see what level it was?”

The man hesitated, but spoke after a beat of courage. “I’m not sure… It just had three question marks.”

The grin on Leo’s face couldn’t have gotten wider.

~

As they walked through the forest, heading toward the apparent ‘safe zone’ that these people had come from, Ashley and Leo were on high alert. A creature in D-grade was something he’d not expected to just run into after nothing but lower level monsters for days. The fact that this thing hadn’t just slaughtered all of them, but seemed to be corralling them, made him wonder what this thing’s intent was.

He doubted they would have a calm and collected conversation about it, but the curiosity was still there.

It was barely an hour before a tingle of danger travelled up Leo’s spine. He’d been in the back, waiting and watching with rapt attention. But to his surprise, they weren’t assaulted, nor did the danger sense grow further. It remained on a constant, low hum.

To say he was uncomfortable would be an understatement, it was like having an itch you couldn’t scratch. No matter how hard you scratched it, it wouldn’t go away, remaining irritating forever.

The feeling of being stalked, looking for weaknesses, the hidden eyes filled with bloodlust. After the constant vigilance in the tutorial, living life on a hair-trigger of reaction, it was too much.

He was going to burst.

His aura was creeping out, filled with his own bloodlust that had people turn to look at him before trying to get some more distance. It wasn’t spreading far, more like a slow rolling miasma that he hadn’t even noticed. Too hyperfocused on this snake.

“Ash,” Leo said, words carrying the short distance with ease across the silence.

She sighed, raising her hand into the air. “Gather round people. Some stupid is about to go down.”

As soon as the people gathered around her, with Leo outside of it, she sighed again. “Go on then.”

Noticing Leo’s distance from everyone, Bruce asked, “Is Mr. Spartan going somewhere else? Isn’t he going to protect us?”

“I can’t feel it, but Le—Mr. Spartan can. The snake is here, watching us. He’s going to go find it.”

Leo walked into the jungle, aura retracted as much as he could. If the snake wanted an easy target, then he’d give it one.

Ellie appeared atop his shoulders, wildshape in effect so that she was a fox. She could clearly feel the eyes of this snake on them, wherever it was in the foliage.

Nerveflash began increasing in its pressure, danger growing rapidly. Any moment now, it would strike. He was ready. So unbelievably ready.

“Come on you scaly shit. Pounce already.”

The brush nearby started to rustle, noise building as his danger sense increased. Leo took up a fighting stance, ready to activate his buffs. A Cloak of Wind formed around his shoulders. He’d already taken in his surroundings for footholds and evasive manoeuvres.

The crescendo built, so much so he almost jumped the gun and pounced himself.

It built to a peak, then just… disappeared.

The sheer loss of the sparking electricity that had been flowing through him for what felt like hours made him almost stumble. The shock was immense.

“What the hell?” Leo asked aloud, head on a swivel.

Did the snake just decide to run? Was this how it acted? Hunted the prey down and then ran away when it was too strong?!

“Get back here you damn snake!” Leo roared, Ellie mimicking him with her own little roar.

His anger at the situation was rising to the point where he almost felt a tingle of his storm rising up for the first time since he’d returned to Earth.

“Okay, calm down, you maniac,” he scolded himself.

The dense jungle-like forest around him barely moved. Thick vines and thicker trees taunted him still. He dared them to move, to rustle, anything.

“Well, guess it’s not coming, Ells,” Leo sighed, forcing himself to relax. The little dragon just shrugged her reply, which was very cute.

But before he could even get one step back toward his allies, a sense of dread overtook him, followed by a realisation.

The fucking snake is going for the healer!

Lightning super-charged his muscles, swiping up Ellie from the ground in a rapid motion where she sensed his urgency. The entire Draconic Equip coated his arms and legs in regal metallic brilliance.

Lightning

His Lightning Stance followed, and like the detonation of a bomb, he boomed through the foliage toward Ashley.

The crash of an impact sounded out ahead of him, a noise he recognised was an attack on Ashley’s barrier. Fury rose within him, and he almost forced his Apotheosis through his body before he suppressed it. There was barely any fuel for it, and he wasn’t ready to handle it. She could take care of things until he made it.

The clearing opened, revealing a giant anaconda that towered above the humans it was staring down. Brown scaly skin with a large head and huge, gaping maw. The fangs it revealed were dripping with green ichor-like poison.

Leo didn’t have much time to take in the scene with how fast he was going, but did have enough to identify it.

Juvenile Stalkcoil Anaconda - Level 101

D-grade.

It spun its giant head toward the incoming attacker, but didn’t have time to react to Leo’s speed.

A metallic fist, coated in the lightning of his stance and Volt Crash smashed into the head of the monster, rocketing it backward into a tree. The tree barely made it slow down, crashing through it and another. Wood fell and splintered all around, creating an opening.

There was no notification, but it definitely felt that one. He skidded to a stop in front of Ashley and the others, but the coating of lightning across his body and metallic armour had a few of them wary of the sheer power he emanated.

“Sorry,” he said quickly.

“I got this, go,” Ashley responded, gesturing with her head.

With a nod, Leo turned back just as Nerveflash warned him to dodge. A giant lance of solid poison flew out like a gunshot. Instead of dodging, Leo used his Redirect skill to palm it to the side. The lance flew into a tree to his left, burning a hole through it and melting the wood like wet paper.

Before it could fire again, Leo pushed off, triple kicking with Gale Talon in a flourish to cut slices into its massive body. To his surprise, the wind sliced hard into the flesh, but barely caused it to bleed.

High Toughness, he surmised quickly. Fine, got just the thing.

The Anaconda retreated into the thicker woods, disappearing despite its massive body, but it wasn’t quick enough to outrun him. Using the broken trees as an obstacle course, Leo kept up until he landed on its back.

It thrashed, but Leo was already pounding his still coated fists in a Lightning Stance infused Titan Barrage. A rapid barrage of thuds echoed out as the snake wailed in agony, giving up on its thrashing to bite out at him.

The speed was incredible for its size, but Leo was faster. Tailwind pushed him sideways, dodging the snapping head and massive fangs. Kicking out with his greaves, Scarlet Impact crashed down on its head where he’d hit it before, forcing it backward and burning the skin around it.

Nerveflash warned him of an incoming threat, but the face was moving away from him. Being mid-air, he couldn’t stop the attack with his Grounding Surge, a weakness of the skill, but it didn’t stop him Spark Dashing.

In a flash, Leo dodged the tail slam from the giant beast, grinning at the sensations of this intense combat.

With Relentless Rhythm at full stacks, Draconic Equip, and the countless bonuses from his titles, Leo was more than a force to be reckoned with for a newly evolved D-grade. He could push it one step further with Infernal Drive, but there was no need.

Another Spark Dash had him closing the gap once again, assaulting it with a flurry of kicks and punches along its body. Each one created a dent in the flesh, and a gurgling cry from the injured snake.

He suddenly jumped just as the entire body of the snake coated itself in slick poison. Leo dismissed his Draconic Equip, the resonance almost drained anyway. Ellie emerged, power already building in her mouth like a furnace heating up. She unleashed it, igniting the poison and coating the snake in a burning blaze.

It writhed, shrieked, and died. Burned to a crisp under the breath of a little dragon.

You have slain: Juvenile Stalkcoil Anaconda - Level 101

Experience increased for defeating a higher level enemy

Your Elemental Adept class has reached level 83

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Anchored Progression:

+1 All stats, +2 Free Points

Ellie has reached level 78

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Ellie has reached level 79

Stat points distributed

+3 Free points

Ellie’s gains from race:
+10 Free Points

The pair landed, and Leo asked Ellie to extinguish all the fires while he dismissed his Lightning Drive. His stamina had taken quite a hit from all the attacks and movements, not enough to not keep fighting, not with his reserves. As his two fists came together, the rejuvenating feeling of Second Wind shot through his body.

Ashley and the others jogged toward him, and he turned with a big smile on his face, entirely pleased at how well the fight had gone.

She didn’t seem to share his pleasure based on the look she was giving him and the snake.

“What?” Leo asked. “Don’t tell me you’re mad because I killed it alone?”

She shook her head slowly, then sighed. “Why don’t you tell him, Bruce?”

Looking toward Bruce whose face was a mix of amazement and disbelief, the boy spoke out.

“That wasn’t the snake.”

Leo felt his head tilt backward, eyes closing. A shriek sounded out behind him, loud, powerful, and filled with rage.

“Oh boy.”