Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It could be summer now. The sun was scorching and the temperature unbelievably high.
Xi En criss-crossed his way through the forest, swinging the Sacred Sword strenuously. As he slashed away the branches and weeds which were in his path, he panted heavily and was drenched in sweat.
“It’s so hot…”
Xi En moaned a little, but he did not stop as he continued scurrying through the forest. The deeper he got into the forest, the more danger he felt.
“I don’t even hear an animal…”
It was a strong sense of foreboding which compelled Xi En to leave the area as soon as he could, especially when the feeling only grew stronger which gradually unnerved him.
Without any warning, another message drifted into Xi En’s mind.
‘Skill acquired, “Perception of Enemy”. Do you want to pick it up?’
Xi En was a little dazed.
“I get a new skill just like this?”
Despite his astonishment, he did not hesitate and immediately picked it up. Instantly, his sense of foreboding earlier was triggered with sirens blaring in Xi En’s mind. His head was throbbing and a chill ran down his spine before he turned around abruptly to look at the sky as if he noticed something above.
“Swoosh!”
All of a sudden, there was a strong gust of wind.
“Boom!”
The dull thud sounded like an explosion.
Xi En felt like he was rammed by a heavy mountain. He barely had time to groan before he was sent flying away, knocking into a tree trunk like a cannonball and ended up breaking the tree.
“Ow!”
It was only then he felt the pain on his chest. Undoubtedly, he was wincing from the intense pain.
‘Skill acquired, “Physical Resistance”. Do you want to pick it up?’
When the message appeared in Xi En’s mind, he was stunned.
“Huh?”
“What happened?”
“Was I attacked?”
Xi En slid down the tree trunk to the ground, but he had yet to catch up with the current happening.
The attack had flung him away, breaking a huge tree in the act. It was baffling that he was barely hurt. He just felt a numbing pain in the chest.
When Xi En snapped out of his trance, he eventually located where he was attacked. He was not sure whether it should be attributed to his acquired skill, Perception of Enemy. He scrambled up from the ground and looked at the scene. He froze at its sight.
What greeted his eyes was beyond real.
“Squawk!”
A hostile noise rang above and echoed in the forest.
A huge black shadow swooped in from the sky and appeared before Xi En. It resembled a bird.
It was black from head to toe with a snake-like body. It had the wings of a bird but a human face. Incredibly huge, its wings spread to a length of ten meters, making it look uncanny and sinister.
It was this huge feral bird that had ambushed Xi En just now and flung him away.
At the moment, the bird’s bloodshot eyes were trained on Xi En, a sure sign that it was not letting its prey get away.
“Hahaha…”
Xi En could not help the laughter that escaped him. Come on…
“Isn’t this carrying the joke a bit too far?”
Reborn into an alternate universe after encountering the Goddess, and thrown alone into the forest to be ambushed by a weird-looking monster?
This development was…
“What a cliché!”
“Squawk!”
Xi En’s grumble and the feral bird’s shrill sounded simultaneously.
The bird shot down from the sky again, appearing as a black shadow, to attack Xi En.
Xi En heard a frenzied blaring, a warning from the skill, Perception of Enemy, causing him to roll sideways without giving it a second thought nor any regard to himself.
“Boom!”
The thud of a collision erupted again.
The tree that Xi En snapped when he was flung into it was now shattered by the bird. The wood chips from the tree littered the sky like confetti.
‘Skill acquired, “Deflect”. Do you want to pick it up?’
New information flooded Xi En’s mind as he rolled awkwardly on the ground.
“Yes! Yes!”
There was no time to think. Xi En wholeheartedly wanted to learn. This skill would definitely save him in a life crisis.
Being indifferent, he acquired the skills, “Physical Resistance” together with “Deflect” which he had just received.
“Squawk!”
The bird which had crushed the tree returned to the skies. As if angered by the failure of its ambush and infuriated by Xi En who defended himself, it cried out and spat a bolt of lightning toward him.
The lightning burned one’s eyes. Xi En, who had just picked himself up, sensed his vision go white before he was struck.
“Dong!”
As the lightning struck Xi En, the explosion threw him off. Xi En rolled away, like an egg, due to the massive force.
‘Skill acquired, “Magic Resistance”. Do you want to pick it up?’
He got another new skill.
“Cough!”
Xi En, who was bowled away, coughed vigorously but accepted the new skill without hesitation, just like earlier.
It was the same repertoire. He was struck by lightning, but still he was not injured. He merely felt the pain all over his body. By now, Xi En understood what was going on.
“Is this the power of the Sacred Sword?”
Lying on the ground covered in dust, Xi En’s gaze fell upon the Sacred Sword which he was gripping. The weapon, just as how he had first seen it, gleamed in its resplendence. He had stayed unscathed up till now, because the Sacred Sword had the ability to reduce 99% of all the damages.
“Squawk! Squawk!”
What happened did not concern the feral bird in the air. Xi En, who was sprawled on the ground close to death, did not even bleed a drop of blood. Upon seeing Xi En, it made a lot of noise as it was enraged. It probably did not expect to take so long to kill the prey which it had found earlier.
The bird charged toward Xi En as if it wanted to end the hunt once and for all. Its whole body was surging with malice.
Xi En, who watched the scene unfold with his eyes wide open, was pumped up with the drive to respond.
“Don’t assume that I won’t fight back!”
Just when the sinister shadow, as in a nightmare, dropped from the sky, Xi En pulled himself up despite the struggle. He then gripped the Sacred Sword tightly.
“Clang!”
The radiant glow which circulated the Sacred Sword burst out all of a sudden. An intense surge of incredible strength flowed from the sword into Xi En. Not much later, he wielded the sword, pointing it toward the bird in the sky.
Then…
‘Skill acquired, “Double Grip Sword”. Do you want to pick it up?’
Without a doubt, Xi En picked yes.