Its eyes glowed a sickly yellow, slit pupils locking onto Amon instantly.Its mouth opened wide, revealing rows of curved fangs dripping with venom.

It was a huge snake-type monster.

Amon's heart slammed against his ribs. 'So that's where you were hiding.'

Now he understood why there were no monsters near the river. It must be this monster's territory.

The monster hissed violently, its long body coiling as it struck. Too fast. Amon barely had time to react. He twisted his body and leaped sideways.

CRASH!

The serpent's massive head smashed into the ground where Amon had been standing just a moment ago, sending dirt, stones, and broken roots flying. The impact left a shallow crater in the soil.

Amon skidded back, boots scraping against the ground. His eyes widened slightly. 'That power…'

This wasn't some weak forest monster.

"Fuck! This is–"

"HSSSS–!!"

The serpent pulled its head back and struck again, faster than before.

Amon reinforced his legs with mana and dashed forward instead of retreating, slipping beneath the monster's head at the last second. The wind from the attack grazed his shoulder, tearing fabric.

He felt a sharp sting. Just a swing of its tail actually carried tremendous force. 'Damn.'

Amon spun and slashed upward with his sword, which was already covered with shadow and mana simultaneously to strengthen it.

CLANG!

Sparks flew.

The blade struck the monster's scales but instead of slicing through, it only left a shallow scratch.

"Tch– hard scales."

The serpent shrieked, enraged, its body whipping around. Its tail came crashing toward him like a battering ram.

Its eyes looked at Amon with pure killing intent. Amon crossed his arms and reinforced them with mana.

BOOM!

The impact sent him flying backward. "Guh—!"

He crashed into a tree, the bark cracking behind him. Pain exploded through his back, and the breath was knocked out of his lungs.

Before he could recover.

The serpent lunged again. It was now fully outside the river, on the ground. It was too close.

Amon gritted his teeth and slammed his palm into the ground.

"Shadow Clutch."

Darkness burst from beneath the serpent's body.

Shadowy hands erupted from the ground, wrapping around the monster's midsection and anchoring it in place.

It was not strong enough to stop it. Not forgetting, Amon needed to use a much larger amount of mana to create bigger shadowy hands from their normal size.

The creature thrashed violently, roaring in fury. It broke the spell very easily.

"HSSSSSS—!!!"

Amon didn't waste any time. Even if it was just a second. He pushed himself up and charged.

He kicked off the ground and dashed forward, mana flowing into his sword. Shadow, like liquid black mist, gathered along the blade, making it sharper.

His other free hand shot forward as he conjured a spell.

[Eclipse Bolt]

He fired it forward.

A condensed sphere of dark energy shot ahead and slammed into the serpent's neck.

BOOM!

The explosion echoed through the forest. It didn't have much effect on it, but there was some damage on its scales at the place where the spell struck.

The monster screeched in pain, its grip against the shadow hands loosening as it crashed onto the ground, tearing up soil and roots.

Amon panted, chest rising and falling rapidly.

'It's still not enough. He's too tough.'

As if answering his thoughts, the serpent's eyes flared with killing intent. Its body twisted violently.

It lunged again—mouth wide open.

Amon rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the bite. The fangs pierced the ground, venom sizzling as it touched the soil.

"Shit…"

He sprang to his feet and ran toward the riverbank, forcing the monster to turn its long body awkwardly. Its size worked against it on land.

The serpent hissed and reared up, exposing its underside for a brief moment.

That was it.

Amon channeled his mana into his legs and jumped.

His body twisted midair. He raised his sword high.

"For hiding this whole time—!"

[Umbral Veil Sword Art: First Form – Crescent of Dusk]

He brought it down with everything he had.

SLASH!

The blade left a crescent-shaped dark slash. It moved fast toward the monster and sliced through the softer scales beneath the monster's neck.

The scales that were weakened by his spell before. The scales shattered. A deep slash formed on its neck. Black blood gushed out as the serpent let out a deafening scream.

"HSSSS—!!!"

It was in pain after a long time. Its massive body convulsed violently, but it was still not dead.

Amon was ready, his revolver summoned in his left hand.Mana flowed through it, covering the bullets inside.

He clicked the hammer with his thumb.

Click!

A sharp metallic sound echoed. The monster glared at Amon with hatred.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

But the moment it gazed at Amon, four bullets were fired one after another.

Splash.

The first one perfectly hit its left eye.

Black blood spilled into the air.Another hit the slashed part on its neck.

The third missed.

The last one went straight into its open mouth.

And that was enough for it to lose control in pain again. It roared loudly.

The hit inside its mouth had much more impact compared to Amon's other attacks.

Unlike its outer body, its insides were far softer and weaker.

It collapsed onto the ground. In pain, it writhed violently.

Black blood oozed out of its mouth.

Amon didn't let this opportunity slip away. He jumped at the monster with all his might.

He grabbed his sword in reverse grip. Mana and shadow wrapped tightly around the blade. He poured all his mana into it, sharpening it further.

At its tip, his magic spell formed. Same as before.

[Eclipse Bolt]

It fired perfectly at the space above its eyes.

BOOM!

"Aaarrrghhh!"

At the same moment, the tip of his sword thrust forward. He roared, putting all his strength into this single move, yelling loudly.

CRASH!

The sword thrust into its forehead.

SPLASH!

Blood burst out like a fountain. It opened its mouth wide, a final scream escaping before it collapsed onto the ground.

Silence returned.

Amon landed roughly, knees buckling as he steadied himself with the sword planted into the ground.

He breathed heavily.

"…Hah… hah…"

His arms trembled. His mana was nearly depleted.

Slowly, he looked at the massive corpse beside the river. "So this is why there were no monsters nearby…"

A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

"…You were guarding this place. Damn, it was fucking peak at rank two. Its strength was really something. Maybe it was on the verge of breaking through to the third rank."

The peaceful stream continued to flow quietly, as if nothing had happened but Amon now knew better.

This forest never gave anything for free.

And in this forest, Amon might have to go through hell. But amidst all this… he was going to get stronger. That was for sure.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.