Chapter 107: Overpowered

The damp, humid air of the B-Rank Jungle Rift clung to Terrence’s skin as he landed cleanly outside the ruffians’ tight circle.

The dark grin spreading across his face was a testament to the thrill of combat, the heavy tension in his chest fully dissolving into raw adrenaline as his boots settled onto the wet soil.

"Now this... this is actually exciting," Terrence murmured, his eyes locking onto the five startled faces before him.

The ruffians’ boss snarled, his scarred face twisting in raw irritation as his B-Rank beasts struggled to reorient themselves.

"Arrogant kid! Surround him! Don’t let him slip away again!"

Before the men could coordinate their next move, the eerie silence of the jungle fractured. A sharp, invisible wave of volatile energy whistled through the humid air, slicing directly toward Terrence’s exposed neck with lethal intent.

Terrence didn’t panic. Through their shared soul connection, the passive agility of his S-Rank hound was already bleeding into his veins.

[Passive Skill: Light Body - ACTIVATED]

His physical body weight dropped significantly in an instant. With fluid, supernatural grace, Terrence twirled his body flat to the side, dodging the unpredictable blade of air by a mere millimeter. The invisible strike crashed into a massive tree behind him, snapping the thick trunk completely in half with a deafening boom.

"Fucker," Terrence spat, his eyes scanning the dense foliage to calculate the stealthy sniper’s exact coordinate.

’I should deal with that invisible one. This makes it tough, but I love it.’

The five ruffians, seeing the opening, ordered their beasts to attack simultaneously in a synchronized assault.

The giant, slithering snake beast burst into action, its jaw snapping wide as it sprayed a massive stream of corrosive, toxic venom directly at Terrence.

Seeing straight to this second attempt to immobilize him with toxic liquid, Terrence already calculated the line of his movement. It was like a challenge that pushed his mind to its fullest.

Right beside it, the massive stone golem curled its rocky body into a heavy boulder, rolling aggressively across the mud to flatten whatever path Terrence tried to dodge into.

To block his blind spots, two ferocious wolf beasts and a massive white tiger lunged forward with their jaws bared.

"Again?" Terrence called out sarcastically.

’Is this how teams fight together? Looks predictable. But I can’t be complacent... I can’t dodge all directions of their attacks.’

"Buddy, clear the path!" Terrence barked to his shadow hound.

[Skill Share: S-Rank Mutated Iron Shadow Hound - ACTIVATED]

[You used Iron Skin]

With his skin instantly layered in a metallic-hard defensive coat, Terrence utilized a short, explosive burst of speed.

[You used Dash]

He turned into a blurry dark wind, easily evading the corrosive spray of venom as his boots skimmed across the swampy ground.

Noir materialized directly from his shadow in a flash of dark mist, its heavy S-Rank pressure exploding outward like a violent, invisible shockwave that vibrated through the earth.

The sudden suffocating aura hit the lunging wolves and the white tiger like a physical brick wall, their front legs instantly buckling in sheer, instinctual terror.

"Noir, Triple Slash!" Terrence commanded.

Noir blurred through the air. Three massive, pitch-black energy claws sliced through the mist. Blood sprayed across the tall grass as the shadow hound cleanly dismantled one of the running wolves in a fraction of a second, tearing its rock-hard hide like warm butter.

Terrence smirked, seeing one enemy beast go down. It was a calculated move, but unexpectedly the wolf died immediately.

Glancing at Noir, he praised his beast in his mind. That was a penetrative attack that could kill even a B-Rank beast instantly.

The stone golem, still curled into a heavy boulder, continued its rapid, rolling trajectory toward Terrence, shaking the ground beneath his feet.

’Time to test the real thing,’ Terrence thought, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, ambitious light as he reached deep into his system inventory.

[Skill Share: SS-Rank Sky Dragon - ACTIVATED]

Terrence connected with his newly won, legendary flying beast, Avery, which hovered safely inside the sanctuary.

[You used Smash!]

A colossal, semi-translucent giant reptile claw materialized directly above the rolling stone golem and the giant snake.

Boom!

The localized gravity around the area suddenly multiplied tenfold. The crushing gravitational weight was so immensely heavy that the massive stone golem was instantly slammed flat against the earth, unable to move a single muscle as its solid rock armor cracked and shattered into a spiderweb crater in the dirt. Beside it, the giant snake’s neck was pinned to the ground, its body completely flattened as if a mountain had been dropped onto its back.

Blood slowly curled from each of the dead bodies of the beasts. Their hue ran deep through the cracks of the earth’s surface as it mixed with the damp, moist ground.

The five ruffians stared in absolute, breathless horror, their mouths hanging agape in utter disbelief at the display of raw, god-tier power.

"What the hell... what kind of hand is that?!" one of them shrieked, his knees trembling violently under the suffocating weight of the dual S and SS-Rank pressure.

Noir didn’t let the opportunity slide. In a split second, a dark horizontal slash of shadow energy cleaved straight across the pinned snake beast’s thick neck, cleanly beheading it in the twinkling of an eye.

A massive geyser of blood sprayed across the jungle foliage as the snake collapsed lifelessly into the mud.

"No... this is impossible!" the ruffians’ boss screamed, completely losing his composure as his remaining beasts whimpered and scrambled backward in complete disarray.

Suddenly, a desperate invisible strike of air shot directly toward Terrence’s face from the high canopy.

Using Light Body and Dash in perfect unison, Terrence turned into a blurry streak, leaping off the massive boulder shell of the shattered golem. He caught a fleeting glimpse of the stealthy sniper’s shadow shifting through the trees.

’Got ya!’ Terrence’s wide eyes darted directly onto the location of the invisible sniper.

"Triple Slash!" Terrence called out through his Skill Share.

Three sharp, dark arc blades of energy materialized in the air, slicing through the thick branches of the ancient trees. The invisible sniper let out a sharp cry of pain as the strikes cut deep, exposing a ragged figure who crashed heavily through the canopy and hit the ground, completely incapacitated.

With their beasts decimated and their stealthy sniper disabled, the remaining ruffians collapsed to their knees, their hands open and clearly visible as they cowered in terror before Terrence.

Terrence stepped over the cracked stone, his hands sliding casually back into his jacket pockets as the oppressive dark aura slowly faded from his body. He looked down at the defeated men with a cold, businesslike smile.

"Like I said..." Terrence said softly, his voice echoing with a calm, unyielding resonance. "You should have tried a little harder."

Chimes erupted directly inside his mind as the battle concluded in total victory.

[Your S-Rank Mutated Iron Shadow Hound grew stronger.]

[Next mutation or rank progress: 4%

Terrence reached down and casually collected the glowing beast cores from the fallen monsters, a wide grin of satisfaction settling on his face.