Souta ignored him as he stared in the hole. Every second, the whole area would shake. He guessed that it would only take a few minutes before this whole place crumble.

The pressure of the battle above the ground brought heavyweight on Souta and Yuko's shoulders. Not just the two of them, Ranny and the dark vine eaters beside him felt it too.

'This man is a powerful tamer that could control a monster on third evolution and he was also powerful enough to become the commander of the duke's knight.' Souta thought as he looked at Ranny. He was assessing Ranny's power level in his mind.

His strongest monster, the dark vine stinger, was busy fighting the guild master. Souta didn't have to worry about it. He only needed to be wary of Ranny's other abilities.

Actually, Souta wanted to move the battlefield to the other place but he didn't so because he knew that a tamer at his level could instantly summon his pet at his side. If Ranny did that, Souta would be alone to fight the dark vine stinger as the guild master wouldn't be able to come at his side easily.

That's why Souta could only endure the pressure of the battle above them while fighting this man named Ranny.

He looked at Ranny's arms, legs, and neck. He didn't saw any tattoo or crest that could summon his pets beside him.

This was a good news to Souta.

It seems that Ranny didn't use his body as a medium to summon all of his pets. He must have placed all those crests in an object. That way, Ranny could still summon his pet using that object. There's a con in placing the crest of a pet in an object and that's once you lose it you wouldn't be able to use it anymore. Before a person could create a crest of the same pet the object must be destroyed first.

A pet could only produce one crest at a time.

But Souta was sure that does not apply to the dark vine stinger. The dark vine stinger was his powerful monster so Ranny must have placed its crest somewhere in his body.

Souta opened his mouth and said, "Yuko, I'll leave all the monster to you."

"Mu." Yuko looked at him and she nodded her head. She couldn't understand his language but she understood his intent through their connection.

"Damn! I'll make you pay the price for stopping me!!" Ranny shouted at the top of his lungs as his face was filled with madness. He opened his arms widely and more than a dozen dark vine eaters charged towards Souta and Yuko at the same time.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Souta jumped backward while Yuko jumped forward.

She rushed forward and bit one of the dark vine eaters on the neck. She then grabbed it and smashed it towards the other dark vine eaters.

Bang!

The vines stretched out above and it shot down towards Yuko.

[Pet Resonance]!

The sense of touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste.

Not only this, the [Pet Resonance] skill could also share their energy with each other. It means that Souta could borrow Yuko's mana and Yuko could borrow his mana.

Souta was in the back and saw the vines that were heading towards Yuko's back at high speed. Since he activated the [Pet Resonance] skill, Yuko saw the vines through their shared senses.

She moved to the side and avoided the vines. The vines pierced the ground and Yuko grabbed it.

She used her brute strength to pull it towards her. The dark vine eater wasn't a monster that has powerful brute strength like a red fur bear. They couldn't do anything as Yuko pulled them towards her.

Yuko was a red fur bear that has over 30 levels. Her strength couldn't be compared back then when she just met Souta. She was just a low-grade second evolution monster back then. It means that her level was between 20-26, but right now she was a powerful mid-grade second evolution monster. Her level was between 28-34.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The dark vine eaters flew towards Yuko and she smashed them on the ground.

Bang!

She then opened her mouth and a ball of fire formed in it. It spun around before she shot it towards the dark vine eaters.

[Burning Shout]!

A wave of flames swallowed the dark vine eaters. The monsters roared in pain as their furs were getting burned.

Souta smiled and he dashed forward. He jumped over Yuko and head straight towards Ranny.

"I'll take you." He said before he used [Crimson Moon] skill.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Ranny shifted his body sideways and he avoided Souta's skill easily. He then pulled out the sword that was hanging on his waist before he charged towards Souta.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Souta and Ranny exchanged blows with high speed. Souta wasn't surprised at Ranny's sword skills. Ranny was the commander of the knights of the duke's family so he naturally has skills.

Clang!

Souta took a distance away from Ranny. From their exchange sword, he understood that Ranny had the power of a C-rank adventurer and was stronger than the elite knight from the Vidrato family.

He frowned and he poured his mana inside his sword before he charged towards Ranny.

Swoosh!

"I'll kill you! I'll feed you to my pet!" Ranny shouted as he swung his sword at Souta.

Clang!

Souta used everything that he had in that swing and it caused Ranny's sword to formed a crack on its surface.

"What?!" Ranny was surprised when he saw this. His sword was a blue grade sword and to think that it would form a crack just from that exchange.

He glanced at Souta's sword and saw that nothing happened to Souta's sword. It only means that the grade of Souta's sword was higher than his.

[Knight's Aura]!

[Hunting Down]!

Ranny used his combat arts to strengthen his body. Just like Souta, he already guessed Souta's strength.

His muscles bulged out as he charged at him with a powerful momentum.

Boom!

Souta braced himself and he received Ranny's charged attack.

Bang!

He gritted his teeth as he felt Ranny's powerful strength. Souta looked at his remaining free attribute points. He still had 94 free attribute points.

In terms of overall strength, Ranny was higher than Souta. But the gap in their strength was not that high. Souta could still close it if he used his free attribute points.

Strength was the only thing that Ranny could defeat Souta. In terms of agility, Souta was slightly higher than Ranny. If Souta didn't have the [Vajra Sword Saya] then Ranny would be able to defeat him easily.

It's a didn't question if Souta could properly use his spells. Under the pressure of the best feram, Souta could hardly cast any spell at all. Once his mana left his body, the best feram would disperse it.

If he wasn't under the pressure of best feram, Souta could easily finish this fight now that he was a Rank 3 Mage.

Swoosh!

Souta crouched down as a sword passed above his head. He then moved his feet and launched a kick towards Ranny's knees.

Ranny saw it and he easily moved out to avoid Souta's kick. Then, he swung his sword aiming at Souta's neck.

Swoosh!

Souta then raised his sword and blocked his opponent's sword.

Clang!

He then used 40 free attribute points to increase his strength. While he used the remaining 54 free attribute points in his agility and dexterity.

Souta felt a warm energy coursing through his body and strengthening every fiber of his muscles.

He gained the strength to match Ranny so he used it to pushed Ranny's sword.

"Wha-"

Ranny revealed a surprised expression as he felt Souta's strength increased to the point that it could match his own.

Souta pushed Ranny's sword and a red aura coated the blade of his sword. He slashed his sword in the air.

[Cross Moon]!

The cross slash in the air flew towards Ranny. Ranny took a step back but the cross slash chased him.

Swoosh!

"Damn!" He cursed as he looked at the cross slash that was chasing him. He tightly gripped his sword and slashed it towards the cross slash.

[Raging Thunder Slash]!

He used a powerful combat arts to counter Souta's [Cross Moon].

Boom!

Both of the attacks collided causing a huge gust of wind to sweep out. Smoke and dust shot up in the air covering the area ten meters around the explosion.

Ranny looked around him and saw that Souta was gone. He was about to turn around when he felt pain on his back.

Spurt!

A huge amount of blood spurted out of his back as Souta cut through his armor. He was focused on the cross slash that was chasing him that's why Souta managed to get behind him.

"Argh!" He groaned in pain and he slashed his sword while turning back at the same time. He didn't think that Souta would use that skill to distract him.

Swoosh!