Chapter 22: Power
Leo was very careful when he entered the forest. He was also trying his best to get as far away from other mercenaries as well. Normally, he didn"t encounter any of them because the forest was such a huge place.
But he was being careful because he was trying to use magic for the first time. He could not let anyone see what he was doing. He was also being careful because he was going to be hunting Magical Beasts.
He slowly walked into the forest. As he did, he cast a body-strengthening spell on him as a precaution. It would be a good idea to be fast even if he was going to maintain a distance.
After doing that, he scoured the ground to see if he could see any prominent tracks. He saw a pair of heavy footprints of an animal that had hooves. He could only hope that it was a Magical Beast. He started following the trail.
As he followed the trail, he realized that it lead into the forest. It wasn"t going into the Inner Forest, but it was as far as he had ever gone.
He remembered the way back so he wasn"t worried about that. He was worried that he was going after a real Magical Beast. If it was a Beast that was heavy enough to leave prints like the one he had seen, it would definitely be a better option to leave it alone.
He wanted to leave the place and go back the way he came from when he heard a sound. He immediately jumped up and grabbed a branch. He climbed up the branch and scoured the place to find the source of the noise.
The noise was a loud thump. It was from a huge rhino. The rhino had a huge horn on its head that glowed a light brown. As it thumped its feet, it stared him down. Each thump made the earth shake.
Leo pointed his hand toward the rhino. .
"Magic Bullet." He shot a magic bullet at the rhino.
The bullet hit the rhino in its forehead. The bullet left behind a small dent, but it was negligible. The bullet just seemed to make the rhino angry. It lifted its front legs and slammed into the ground.
The ground quaked. He could see the ripples from the center of the mini-earthquake. The rippled quickly reached the tree that he had climbed on for safety. The tree started shaking, and he realized that it was going to fall down.
He jumped back from the tree to the ground. He made sure to jump away from the rhino. He looked at the rhino, trying to figure out his best plan. He could try to escape, but he wanted to see if he would be able to kill it with his new powers.
"Magic Bullet!" He tried to hit it again. He figured that the armor would give in eventually. This time the bullet hit the rhino in the forehead again, but in a slightly different place.
"s.h.i.t."
He didn"t realize that his accuracy also made a difference. The bullet was too fast for the rhino to dodge, but its power and accuracy weren"t good enough for it to be a threat.
The rhino let out a small grunt and started charging toward him. He quickly estimated how long it would take it to get to him. He started firing Magic Bullets at it while running backward away from it.
The bullets would hit the rhino in the head, but it would never hit the same place again. This was until one of the bullets. .h.i.t its eye. It hit the right eye lid and pierced through it. The bullet wasn"t able to reach the brain, but it partially blinded the rhino.
Roar.
The rhino made a huge sound and started rampaging. Instead of charging at Leo, it started making as much damage to the landscape as possible. The earthquake it was causing made him lose his footing.
He immediately got up and aimed at the rhino again. It was crying in pain and had just turned back at him to charge at him once more. He fired another time, aiming for the same vicinity as the eye he had just hit.
He started firing bullets with all his magic power. He kept firing them at the rhino while it was charging toward him. He didn"t even try to run away. He was putting all his attention and focus into aiming for the eye. He concentrated very heavily, making him form sweat on his forehead.
One of the bullets. .h.i.t the same spot again, this time piercing the brain. The rhino didn"t even whimper. It just skid to a stop right in front of him. He sighed and sat on the corpse of the rhino to rest.
"My life is too difficult." He said to himself.
After taking a short break, he took his knife out to claim his loot. He was also trying to take the rhino"s horn to sell to Trevor. As for the core, he could use it for himself.
Leo cut out the horn and took out the Beast Core from the rhino"s body. After doing this, he returned to the city. He went to visit Trevor.
Trevor saw him coming his way and smiled. It had been a while since he had come by and Trevor needed new materials.
"How is it going? Did you get me any new herbs?" Trevor asked jovially.
Leo shook his head. He took out the rhino horn instead.
"Do you know if this is worth anything?" He asked Trevor.
Trevor sighed. "I didn"t think this would be coming this quickly. How did you kill a Magical Beast?"
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