Rin walked toward the dense, emerald shadows of the forest, his expression unreadable. His mind, however, was a whirlwind of calculations. 'A fast opponent... a swordsman... speed and precision.' He analyzed the variables with cold detachment. 'To defeat speed, one must not be faster, but more predictive.'
As the canopy closed over him, blocking out the light, a sharp chill ran down the air. Rin stopped, his hand resting lightly on his hilt. He didn't need a system alert to feel the killing intent radiating from the thickets.
"Two guardians before the main gate," Rin whispered to the silence, a ghost of a smirk touching his lips. "They think they can ambush a shadow."
Two silhouettes began to detach themselves from the darkness—Tier C stalkers, designed for speed and assassination. Rin didn't draw his blade yet. He closed his eyes, letting his mana spread across the forest floor like a web.
"Let's see if your blades are faster than my thoughts."
"The others defeated Mid-Tier C beasts," Rin muttered, his eyes narrowing as he observed his targets. "It's only fair that I face the same. No... I'll do it better."
Rin approached the first guardian. It was a creature unlike any he had seen—a humanoid figure with no discernable features, wearing a simple tattered hat that shadowed a void of pure darkness. It radiated a familiar energy; it was a caster, capable of wielding energy orbs and beams just like him.
Without a word, Rin lunged, hurling a concentrated mana orb. The creature took the hit, sliding back across the dirt before retaliating with a searing beam of light. Rin dodged effortlessly, his mind already three steps ahead.
"The rope," Rin whispered, pulling the enchanted cord from his belt. "Let's see what you can do."
He funneled his mana into the rope, lashing it forward. The cord snaked through the air, binding the faceless creature tight. Rin fired a beam, but the beast struggled against its magical restraints, refusing to fall. Rin clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"No, I don't want it this way. I'll save the traps for the real threat. Let's make this a fair fight."
He released the rope, allowing the creature to stand. Immediately, Rin's right hand crackled with lightning while his left gathered the heat of an explosive mana orb. He unleashed both simultaneously.
The guardian reacted, manifesting two additional energy-arms from its shoulders. Its original hands fought off Rin's dual assault, while the phantom arms began weaving a massive, catastrophic energy sphere above its head to end the battle in one strike.
Rin smirked. "Predictable."
He slammed his foot down, igniting the ground beneath the monster in a sudden burst of flame. As the creature faltered, Rin launched his own counter-sphere. The two massive energies collided in the center of the clearing, but Rin's aura was denser, sharper. His orb tore through the guardian's attack, incinerating its torso.
Rin didn't give it a second to recover. He followed up with a piercing beam that went straight through the void beneath the hat, then finished it with one last explosive orb. The first guardian vanished into ash.
One down.
A system window flickered in front of Rin's closed eyes.
[Warning: The Lightning Knight is a Mid-Tier C beast. Good luck.]
[Note: Remaining data has been redacted by the Guide.]
"Shiron... why hide the information now?" Rin muttered, a cold annoyance rising in his chest. But he quickly dismissed the thought, a sharp, arrogant smile crossing his face. "It doesn't matter. I am the strongest one here. What stands before me is nothing but trash."
The Lightning Knight didn't wait for Rin's arrogance to fade. It moved.
In a flash of blinding blue light, the knight lunged. It didn't execute a series of slashes; instead, it performed a simple, devastating leap. Pulling its crackling sword behind its back, it prepared for a single, final execution strike—a move that screamed pure contempt, as if telling Rin he wasn't worth a second swing.
The air hissed with the sound of static as the blade descended. The knight was fast, faster than anything Rin had ever calculated, and the strike was aimed directly at his heart.
Rin retreated with a sharp, instinctive burst of speed, but he wasn't fast enough to escape completely. The tip of the crackling blade grazed him, leaving a stinging, electrified line across his chest.
Rin exhaled a sharp whistle, looking down at the singed fabric of his gear. The cold arrogance in his eyes shifted, replaced by a calculating, razor-sharp focus.
"What is this?" Rin whispered, his voice dropping an octave. "He's confident... actually confident. It seems I'll have to recalculate my odds."
He tightened his grip on his weapon, his mind discarded the trash-talk and began analyzing the Knight's stance, the frequency of the lightning, and the reach of that vibrating sword.
"Fine then," Rin smirked, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "If you want a real fight, I'll stop treating you like a target and start treating you like a threat."
Rin acted instantly, his mind spinning a new web of tactics. He pulled his enchanted rope and simultaneously gathered a swirling mass of mana into a dense energy orb. With a burst of speed, he lunged forward, lashing the rope outward.
The cord moved like a living serpent, successfully snaking around the Knight's armored wrists, binding them in a tight, magical grip. Seeing his opening, Rin hurled the energy orb point-blank.
"Got you," Rin muttered.
But his victory lasted only a heartbeat. The Lightning Knight roared, and a surge of high-voltage electricity erupted from its body, incinerating the enchanted rope into charred fibers. In one fluid, terrifying motion, the Knight swung its vibrating blade. It didn't dodge the energy orb—it struck it.
The sword sliced through the mana orb like a hot knife through wax. Sparks of unstable energy flew in every direction as the orb was split in two, dissipating into nothingness. The Knight stood there, unharmed, its blade humming with a lethal blue glow as it prepared for a counter-charge.
"Now," Rin whispered, his eyes flashing with a cold intensity, "this is a real fight."
Rin slammed his hand onto the forest floor, instantly flash-freezing the ground to create a treacherous, slippery terrain for his opponent. Using the slick surface to boost his momentum, he lunged forward. He didn't just charge; he funneled every drop of his focus into both hands, manifesting two highly concentrated energy beams.
He thrust them forward, aiming to incinerate the Knight at close range.
The Lightning Knight's visor flickered. In that split second, the beast didn't act like a mindless monster. It analyzed the density of Rin's beams and realized that attempting a direct block would be suicide. With a burst of electrical propulsion, the Knight leaped high into the air, narrowly evading the twin streams of destruction.
While still airborne, the Knight twisted its body and swung its blade, sending a jagged bolt of lightning hurtling back toward Rin.
Rin's eyes widened as he dodged the counter-attack. A chill that had nothing to do with the ice ran down his spine. Unlike the brutish titans Yuro and Rhino had faced, this creature possessed a calculating, analytical mind.
"He's thinking..." Rin muttered, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. "He's not just a monster; he's a strategist."
Rin launched a multi-layered assault. He manifested a dense energy orb and lashed his mana-infused rope forward, aiming to bind the Knight's limbs while firing a piercing beam with his other hand. It was a net of destruction, leaving almost no room for escape.
The Lightning Knight's visor glowed intensely. It analyzed the incoming threats in a millisecond. Grasping its sword with both hands, it surged with power and delivered a massive, blinding vertical slash toward Rin's offensive.
The collision was deafening. Dust and sparks obscured the battlefield, and Rin squinted through the haze, waiting for his attacks to connect. But as he stared at the silhouette of the sword in the smoke, a cold realization hit him.
The silhouette didn't move.
Before he could react, a brutal impact slammed into his back. A heavy, armored fist drove into his spine, sending him sprawling across the frozen earth.
The Knight had pulled a lethal trick—it had left its sword embedded in the ground, radiating a lingering aura to trick Rin into thinking it was still there, while it moved through the shadows with silent lightning speed to strike from behind.
Rin struggled to breathe, coughing up a spray of blood as he looked over his shoulder. The Knight stood over him, its hand crackling with electricity, its visor cold and mocking.
Rin wiped the blood from his lip, his eyes burning with a mix of fury and excitement. "Dirty tricks... I see. You really are like me."Rin didn't wait for the dust to settle. He funneled his remaining mana into the rope, which slithered across the frozen ground like an invisible serpent. It lashed around the Knight's ankles and snapped upward, binding its right arm to its own legs in a tangled mess of magical fiber.
A cold smirk played on Rin's bloody lips. "Ice to numb you, fire to end you."
He unleashed a jagged beam of frost that locked the Knight's joints, followed immediately by a massive, explosive mana orb from his left hand. The explosion rocked the clearing, a cacophony of fire and shattered ice. Rin exhaled, waiting for the system notification of victory.
But the notification never came.
Out of the smoke, a blur of blue lightning erupted. The Knight, fueled by pure mechanical fury, tore through the restraints. Rin gasped, dropping to his knees and slamming his palms into the earth to manifest a jagged ice barrier. It was a desperate move, a mere obstacle to slow the inevitable.
It wasn't enough.
The Lightning Knight's blade whistled through the air with surgical precision. It shattered the ice barrier like glass and plunged deep into Rin's left hand. With a brutal, twisting motion, the Knight ripped the blade upward, splitting Rin's hand and forearm down the middle.
The agony was blinding. Rin's left arm hung uselessly, a mangled mess of torn flesh and bone, completely incapacitated. He was pinned, bleeding, and for the first time, his calculations had led him to a dead end.
The Knight loomed over him, its visor glowing with a triumphant, murderous light.
The Knight didn't deliver the killing blow immediately. Instead, it leaned in closer, the static from its armor stinging Rin's skin. A distorted, metallic rasp echoed from behind the visor—a voice that sounded like grinding stones.
"I... pity you," the monster spoke.
Rin's eyes widened. A talking beast? This wasn't just a scripted guardian; it was something higher, something sentient. But even with his arm split in half and the stench of his own burnt flesh in the air, Rin didn't let his mask slip. He forced a bloody, arrogant smile onto his face.
"Don't pity me," Rin spat, his voice trembling with effort but laced with venom. "Pity yourself. You've already lost, and you don't even know it yet."
Inside, Rin's mind was screaming. 'Think! I'm in a corner. My left arm is gone, my mana is low.' He watched the Knight's visor, looking for any flicker of hesitation. 'If I can plant the seed of doubt... if I can make him believe that this—every drop of blood, every broken bone—is part of a grander design, I can win. He needs to fear the trap that doesn't exist.'
Rin let out a low, chilling laugh that echoed through the silent woods. "You think you found a weakness? You simply walked exactly where I needed you to be."
The Knight paused, its blade humming inches from Rin's throat. For the first time, the predator looked like it was weighing its options.
The Knight let out a guttural, distorted laugh. "We shall see."
Suddenly, the monster's chest plates groaned and buckled. Crimson blood erupted from its left and right flanks as two additional armored arms tore through its own flesh. With a sickening squelch, the Knight plunged its original blades into its own heart, but instead of falling, it radiated a surge of black lightning.
From the gaping wounds, it drew two more lightning-infused sabers, followed by a final, massive broadsword.
Rin stared, his breath hitching. The battlefield had transformed into a nightmare. Standing before him was a four-armed executioner wielding four crackling blades of death. Rin, on the other hand, stood with a split, useless left arm, a single working hand, and a scorched rope.
The odds weren't just against him; they were impossible.
The Knight moved its four blades in a hypnotic, lethal dance, the sparks illuminating the terror in the forest. Rin felt the cold sting of the ozone on his skin. He looked at his mangled arm, then at his remaining rope, and finally into the glowing visor of the beast.
"Four swords... or forty," Rin whispered, his voice gaining a sudden, terrifying clarity. He gripped his rope with his one good hand, his aura beginning to vibrate at a frequency that made the nearby trees shiver. "I am the one who defines strength here. And I will prove it by tearing you down."