The dizzying heat, as if everything around him were burning, began to cool.
The steam rising from his body gradually faded, and the pain that had been crushing his entire body also started to subside.
It was only thanks to using [Body Transformation] in the middle, adjusting the pain by reshaping his body along the flow of evolution.
If not, he might have truly gone insane this time.
“Kk……hwooo…”
Unlike the previous times, this transformation had taken especially long.
When he began his promotion, the sun had clearly still been up, but now that it was over… it was the quiet hours before dawn.
The world had been swallowed by silence, with nothing to hear but his own rough breathing and the faint chirping of a few birds.
The reason no monster had attacked him in the middle was that he had formed a special barrier around his body with psychic power.
First, he used invisibility as the first energy membrane to conceal himself visually. Then he created a second energy membrane, letting psychic-like power flow outward to block detection.
And if something still found him and attacked, he had made a third energy membrane so he could intercept it immediately.
It was a barrier capable of automatic offense and defense, reacting to hostility and striking the enemy down.
Before, the total amount of psychic power was too small for it to be efficient, but after devouring Gouketsu and ranking up, he now had enough room to use it.
Whether lucky or unlucky, no one had attacked him in the end, so it had intercepted nothing and become useless.
Still, a few times in the middle, he had sensed something powerful sweeping this way as if searching for him…but it passed by without finding him.
Since it had not been a gaze filled with hostility, the interception had not activated.
That was probably for the best.
Even if it was different now that the evolution was complete, if he had taken a strong attack in the middle, it might have been dangerous.
Now.
Stand up.
As the smoke that had blurred the surroundings thinned and his body fully cooled, he finally rose to his feet.
He was already used to the movements of his muscles, which had changed in an instant, so he stood up properly on both legs without toppling over halfway through.
His eye level was very different now.
His previous form had been about two meters tall, so now, at least one and a half times that height, he was probably around three meters.
Size was something he could change anytime with [Body Transformation], so it was nothing to worry about.
Still, it was better to check the basics first, so he took a look.
Next, he checked his overall build and muscle condition.
First of all, his body had become massively bulked up.
It was visibly thicker, as if every muscle in his body had swollen.
…Somehow, he felt lighter than before.
And then…
“...Huh. White?”
Looking down at himself, he saw that his body was covered in white scales.
Come to think of it, had they grown in already?
The sensation of them tearing through his skin and popping out one by one was still vivid, and remembering it made him frown naturally.
They had formed into something like armor. Especially a structure well suited to absorbing impact.
The red scales had apparently melted and turned into skin, and beneath the scales, including his claws and palms, the color had become a dark red.
His skin itself now had the same defensive power as his old scales.
The newly grown white scales would have even greater defense than that…he had no idea how much, but he didn’t think they’d be useless by any means.
He now had one more finger, making five at last.
When he picked up a pebble nearby, he could clearly feel the difference.
His precision had not really dropped, but the force with which he gripped objects had become more efficient.
That was a huge gain.
He tightened his hand and crushed the pebble into powder, letting it fall as he started rolling his shoulders with a series of cracks.
By feel, strange protrusions had formed on his back and shoulders.
They were extremely hard, and felt as if they could be pushed into his body and pulled back out at will.
Their edges were fairly sharp too, so they looked like they might be useful later.
Nice.
Other minor changes included his feet becoming much larger and his head becoming slightly smaller in proportion to his body.
That probably wasn’t very important.
It was likely a form that had become more efficient for using the martial arts he had learned.
As for his status…
[Name: Terrifyingly Ferocious Lizard Monster]
[Alias: Monster Hunter]
[Disaster Level: Dragon]
[HP: 26000/26000]
[ST: 30000/30000]
[AP: 20000/20000]
[SP: 32000/32000]
[MP: 20102/20102]
[Allocatable Points: 0]
[Skills (20/25): [Super Instinct] LV9, [Quiet Steps] LV8, [Sharp Claws] LV9, [Strong Teeth] LV9, [Tail Severing] LV4, [Hardened Body] LV8, [Super Regeneration] LV9, [Stealth] LV6, [Shock Absorption] LV7, [Might] LV8, [Instant Acceleration] LV6, [Body Transformation] LV8, [Tracking] LV3, [Warp] LV6, [Strong Acidic Body Fluids] LV2, [Bullet] LV1 (NEW), [Psychic Power] LV6, [Pressure of the Strong] LV1, [Density Control] LV1, [Unyielding Will] LV1]
As expected, everything had been inflated twofold.
The skill limit had also increased by five, to twenty-five.
He wasn’t all that surprised anymore. Maybe because this was the third time.
Still.
At last, he had become dragon-level.
He had already hunted two dragon-level monsters, but becoming that level himself felt quite significant.
At this point, he was sure he could fight Vaccine Man.
And he could probably kill the Sea King in one hit.
He really had become much stronger. Yeah.
He remembered the time when he had first awakened as a low-rank monster and barely managed to survive.
This was not even comparable to that.
He had worked hard. And then worked harder.
“...Well then, shall I go?”
To Z City.
“Well, well. Look who it is. The famous Monster Hunter?”
“…………?”
After taking only a few steps toward Z City, a voice came from the sky.
Looking up, he saw a red bird.
It was an irritating creature with bulging, eyeless eyes.
A bird monster?
“It was a pain finding you. The monster with detection-type abilities had combed this mountain from end to end, but you never showed yourself…thanks to that, I got caught by the Terrible Tornado and half of us died for nothing…huh? Wait. What? That guy is the Monster Hunter? Did we find the wrong one? He looks way different.”
“Hey! Of course it’s him! Are you looking down on my detection ability, Magantochang? If I get DNA information, I can detect him no matter where he is in this world—”
Huh.
Crack!!
“……Huh?”
“So that’s what you meant. Detect him no matter where he is in this world, right?”
He put the creature, which looked like a tiny beetle with butterfly wings attached, into his mouth and chewed.
It was fairly crisp, with a decent texture.
The taste was a little astringent, but still edible enough.
So this was how much faster [Body Transformation] had become now.
With a hand stretched out at super speed, he instantly killed the small monster riding on the bird monster’s back.
“...What did you just do? Why is the guy riding on my back in your mouth…?”
Gulp.
“Pff… I just stabbed him to death, like normal?”
The creature was visibly flustered.
That confirmed it.
You came here not knowing that I had evolved.
That meant it knew me from before I evolved.
And…
About demon-level, I guess.
“Thanks for coming all the way here yourself. It saves me time, which is a big gain.”
“Uh, uh…”
“Then… bye?”
There was no need to use [Warp].
He sprang up at super speed and arrived directly in front of it in midair.
Let’s see how much damage a single swing of my arm does to a demon-level monster.
He sharpened his claws and swung—
Boom!!
TUKWAAANG!!!
KWA-KWA-KWANG!!!
“What the hell… you went out so confidently and almost got yourself killed.”
“Ja, Jagang….”
Cold sweat pouring down, Phoenix Man swallowed dryly.
Death.
In a fleeting instant he neither perceived nor saw, he had seen death.
If Jagang had not buried the Monster Hunter under the pile of rocks he had prepared in time, he would already have been…
“What… there’s no movement from that guy… this is all he had… ugh…?!”
“Jagang? Why are you suddenly… khuhhhk!?”
Koooom…
An overwhelming weight began to press down on them.
The massive rock piles that had buried the Monster Hunter stirred, then rose into the air with absurd ease.
Death was walking over.
Realizing the danger, Jagang poured all his strength into crushing the Monster Hunter with telekinesis.
But.
Even as the ground around him split apart, he kept a one-meter radius around himself perfectly intact…and walked this way.
He was walking through the air.
Casually, as if climbing stairs.
“So… is that all?”
Then it’s my turn.
With a mocking laugh, the Monster Hunter strode forward like a charging beast.
“Damn it! Don’t be ridiculous! I am Jagang, the supreme psychic who received the eyeballs of monsters from Lord Gyorogyoro and absorbed their lingering thoughts! There’s no way I’d be outclassed in psychic power—”
Pop.
“…………….”
“Guess there wasn’t anything worth eating.”
When the Monster Hunter clenched his fist, Jagang burst apart helplessly, body and all.
Because he had often seen Gyorogyoro’s psychic power, Phoenix Man could tell.
It wasn’t a matter of overwhelming output.
It was absurdly precise control.
He had created a single thread of telekinesis, slipped it through the gaps in Jagang’s psychic barrier, and blown him apart from the inside.
He had never seen such insane precision, not even from Gyorogyoro.
He was a monster!
“Damn it!!”
The lure had worked, but even escaping with his life was becoming difficult.
“Youuuuu!! Stop the Monster Hunter!!!”
Dozens of monsters began rushing toward the Monster Hunter.
An enormous wave of bodies crashed over a single white figure.
But.
He simply ground through that tidal wave of numbers with smooth, effortless force.
And kept coming.
He was flying at full speed with everything on the line, yet the expression on his face as he literally shredded the monsters apart was calm.
As he drew closer and closer, all kinds of thoughts began flooding Phoenix Man’s mind.
Damn it.
Damn it!!
Dammit.
He was much stronger than when he had killed Gouketsu.
That damn Gyorogyoro. Your analysis was completely wrong!
Should I call Elder Centipede?
He had to, if he wanted to preserve his life. But if he did and then returned after failing the mission, Orochi might eat him.
Dead either way.
What the hell am I supposed to do!
This is why middle management is such a pain…
BOOM!!
Ah.
It’s here.
I’m dead.
I curse you, Gyorogyoro.
I’m dead…
Slice.
And so, Phoenix Man was cleanly cut in half and fell to the ground.
But the mission to lure the Hunter to Garou’s hideout had been accomplished.
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