Path to Transcendence

The two-headed bear charged at him, swinging wildly and without much grace. It was pure power and brute force, but that was in its own way, a very dangerous weapon.

The beast didn't have to worry about taking damage, it knew that Julius didn't have many options to hurt it with. But it also knew that it was slower.

That was why it had deployed the strategy of getting ahold of Julius with its arms and then trying to tear him apart with its two sets of jaws.

Something interesting that Julius realized after some time was that the monster did have a reason for having two heads.

One head seemed like it was responsible for doing the actual fighting, while the other head was almost entirely devoted to keeping its skill and Concept running through its body.

It was like having two separate brains for fighting. It definitely worked too, because Julius was honestly a bit impressed by how well the monster was able to infuse its Concept into its body.

Julius could definitely learn a few things from this creature.

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It was just too bad that he wasn't really in a position to ask it for some pointers. He had a feeling that the answer he would get would be a sharp claw to the face.

He did need to start finishing this fight up though. He was already sensing several other monsters observing their fight from the trees. Even the little rabbit was sitting back and observing.

He maintained his calm and allowed the monster to overextend itself before going on the offensive.

Once he evaded both claws and made sure he wasn't in range of either of its jaws, he smashed a leg loaded with fire mana into the bear.

As he did he made sure to do his best to infuse his Phoenix Concept into [Thermal Empowerment].

That was one thing he had been trying to improve as the fight went on. The uncommon skill didn't make it easy, but he pushed through it.

He believed that if he wanted his new body skill option at rare to contain some aspects of his Phoenix Concept, he would need to make some headway into infusing the skill as he did with [Phoenix Renewal] and to some extent [Armaments of the Arcane].

It would be his best chance. Or that was what he was hoping for.

He got in another three nice strikes before he needed to back off and avoid the slashing claw.

However, he was ecstatic to see that for the first time something had happened. He had been partly successful in infusing his body skill with his Phoenix Concept and the result was quite exciting.

He was able to notice the fire mana actually break through the two-headed bear's defenses and 'contaminate' its body. There wasn't any outward damage, but Julius smiled when the monster roared in pain all of a sudden.

Something must have happened, he thought to himself.

Seeing that he was on to something, he eagerly rushed back in. His next fist was covered in fire and when he made contact he flooded as much fire mana that was infused with his Concept into the monster.

It was successful again.

The bear flinched away and roared once more in pain.

If Julius didn't know better, he would guess that whatever he was doing to the bear was burning its aura or its soul. Because according to his aura senses, the monster's aura no longer had the indicators of an earth beast, but now had some aspects that resembled a monster with an affinity to fire.

He looked at the bear with a hungry smile and he noticed the bear was now looking at him with signs of hesitation.

Not showing any mercy, he stalked toward the monster with both arms enflamed while the monster took a step back in fear.

***

He kept this up for as long as he could. He didn't care that they were accumulating a large crowd of monsters. They weren't interrupting the fight and seemed satisfied with just watching, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight with two powerful creatures.

Julius had a feeling that they were waiting until the two of each other tired the other out. Unfortunately for them, Julius still had plenty of energy.

And while Julius could have ended it at any time he was experiencing such rapid improvement in this [Thermal Empowerment], he didn't want to.

He wished he could do this forever. If he could, he believed he would be able to rank up this skill in no time at all.

Unfortunately, the monster was just about on its last legs. The effects of the fire were showing.

Julius stared directly at the two heads, both arms and legs were softly dancing with red flames. His skill raging forth with intensity.

The monster must have realized it was a lost cause because Julius felt it begin to compress something within its chest.

He immediately used [Flash Step] to gain some distance and was glad he did because the two-headed bear, now flush with so much power charged at him with terrifying speed. He only barely dodged it.

It felt similar to what the man who had almost killed him with his suicide attack had done. This bear was probably feeding the rest of its life energy or soul energy into whatever berserker skill it was using.

Julius had already learned his lesson from that experience. So he was about to create a barrier with [Armaments of the Arcane] in front of him, prepared to break his self-imposed restriction.

However, he stopped himself after a moment when he saw the monster stop from where it had flown past him. He could see the challenging glare in the monster's eyes.

Julius shook his head in amusement. He couldn't help but want to prove that he could defeat this monster without having to rely on his other powerful skills. He wanted to beat this thing with the tools he had been using the entire fight.

His pride was demanding that from him.

So what if the bear was stronger now? Did that automatically make it stronger than him?

No, he was stronger and he would show it. He still had his healing skill to rely on too.

This wasn't some sort of item that the monster was using, this was just another one of its skills. He could handle it, and if he couldn't then that was on him. But he already decided that he would beat it with [Thermal Empowerment] and he would.

He grinned at the monster with all of his teeth and he saw the monster glowing with a dark red aura.

When they met eyes, Julius saw the determination behind the rage.

The monster released a deafening roar to which Julius eagerly reciprocated with one of his own before both of them charged each other.

The monster was much faster than before that much was certain, but it also was more wild. It didn't really focus on protecting itself earlier and that was doubly so now.

It knew it was going to die, but all it cared about was taking Julius with it before it did.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He knew that it was just a monster. A monster that was hell-bent on killing him, but he couldn't help but respect that.

He kept on evading the blows, only parrying the ones that would have connected. But that came at a cost. Every time he met one of its blows, it was like parrying a mountain. His bones were creaking and fracturing every time he did so.

[Phoenix Renewal] healed up instantly though, so he didn't mind.

But then he got his opening and he had been preparing the entire time to capitalize on it.

He had been infusing his Phoenix Concept into his fire mana while he waited.

He stopped flowing the skill through his whole body and focused all of the mana and aura he gathered into one arm. Then he proceeded to slam his right arm into the right head of the monster.

And the result was equally reckless and glorious.

His arm disappeared in a spray of blood, only his elbow remaining. Despite that, the monster's head took even more damage. Not even its powerful body enforced by its skill and Concept could withstand the devastating blow.

As their Concepts clashed, he felt his Emblem flare up and completely bulldoze the bear's Earth Concept.

One moment its head was there and the next it was gone in a flash of light. The only thing remaining was the ash that blew off into the wind and the trees.

He then kicked off the monster's chest and used the momentum to gain distance just in case.

He half expected to see the monster dead on the ground because that was what usually happened when you destroyed a creature's head. But this one had two heads so he wasn't too surprised to still see it standing.

However, it was done for.

There wasn't anything left in its tank. There was no more mana or Earth Concept running through its body. It was just kneeling on the ground and the remaining head looked at Julius with tired eyes.

Julius walked up to it, his arm already almost healed.

The monster looked… content. Like it had known it had done everything it could but had still come up short.

When they met gazes, there was a mutual understanding between them. Julius only nodded at the bear with a solemn motion of his head.

In his healed arm, he channeled more fire mana, and with zero hesitation, he buried his fist into the last head. It exploded as it crumbled underneath his strength.

Once he was done, he turned to look around him. There was a large ruined clearing from the backlash of his fight. Trees were upturned and patches of scorched dirt littered the area.

Just outside of this clearing, there were over a couple dozen various creatures who were watching him from the trees. The rabbit was oddly nowhere in sight and must have run off during the final exchange.

But of all of the spectating monsters, none of them were close to as powerful as the two-headed bear. But then again, that bear was something else even for a Tier 3 beast.

It was definitely as strong if not stronger than the undead knight he fought previously in the labyrinth rift.

It was hard to say though. The bear was definitely stronger when it came to sheer physical prowess, but the undead knight had a very annoying corruption skill that would have been pretty dangerous if not for his healing skill or his willpower. It also was a skilled swordsman, whereas the bear was an instinctual fighter who relied on overwhelming strength.

It would probably come down to how well someone's skillset matched up against each of them to determine who was stronger.

He scratched his head as he continued to watch the crowd of monsters.

He was tempted to fight the rest of the monsters around him, but he honestly did not feel like any of them would be much of a challenge. Perhaps only if all of them attacked at once did he think he would have to resort to using his other skills.

But he wasn't sure that they would do something like that. Otherwise, he believed they already would done just that. They didn't necessarily seem like a pack or have any leader to direct them.

In fact, that two-headed bear was most likely the area boss.

Still, he wasn't surprised when he sensed one specific monster slowly inch closer to him. It was kind of small. Not rabbit-sized small, but it was around the size of a dog.

What stood out though was that this monster also seemed to have some sort of Concept. There was a sense of profoundness that he had come to associate with those who obtained a Concept.

It also had elegant sharp blade-like scales covering its entire body and seemed like it had some sort of stealth skill on top of it.

Julius wasn't able to sense it with his aura or mana senses. Only [Spatial Perception] was able to track the monster as it stalked closer to him, using the foliage to hide its approach.

It wasn't until it reached the edge of the clearing that it stopped.

It was facing directly at his back but it didn't do anything quite yet. But Julius waited, curious about what this little guy might try and do.