With a sigh he stepped forward between the men and took one of the swords from them, telling them to back off.

They did not hesitate and left the man alone between them and the beast that was slowly advancing towards them.

" Hey Ran ! I know you're strong and that I...We asked you to escort us, but do you really intend to fight this monster alone ? "

Era said with a concerned expression. She was still cute even with a worried look on her face. From what he heard, monster attacks were a common occurrence here, if he was to survive he needed to gain some experience fighting them and the obvious experience points coming with it, mister Teddy bear over there came at the right time

He smiled at her and walked towards the monster. "Let's see the weapon first" he thought, casting [analysis] on his sword.

[mediocre sword, deg:90]

Well he probably could not ask for more from something looted from basic soldiers...

Then he studied his opponent, [tetra bear alpha lvl13], the strongest enemy he had met so far.

His smile intensified as a new gleam appeared in his eyes, he then began to run faster and faster towards the bear.

So far he had not been able to activate “it” because of the deep forest that hindered his movements, but on an open and roughly even road he could afford to use it.

His HUD displayed a warning message.

>

Suddenly, wheels appeared behind his heels and the protection plates on his back spread open to reveal 2 small reactors around his shoulder blades that bursted out suddently.

The thrust was such that he almost lost his balance, but he was now runni...gliding at more than 90 Km/h towards his opponent who grunted and stood on his hind legs, ready to welcome him.

The rest happened in a flash, when the bear swung its claws to decapitate him, Ran shut off his thrusters and slid to the ground without slowing down, narrowingly avoiding the assault of the bear and taking the opportunity to counterattack directly.

His sword split the air with the combined power of his exo and the momentum he had gained from the speed, slicing through both of the bear's back legs. The monster slumped in the dust as Ran skidded to a halt to regain his balance.

His blade had not withstood the brutal blow and had broken before he could completely sever the second leg. The poor quality didn't lie at least. He threw away the useless weapon and took out his combat knife before charging again.

The bear, who had become aware of the situation, became enraged, despite his missing limbs, he came to meet his challenger and just before crashing into each other, he let out an incredibly powerful roar.

The earth shook and Ran felt the vibrations in his bones. The villagers who were at a distance were petrified and some even fainted. Ran, who was closest, should have suffered the same fate. But he continued on his way as if nothing had happened.

He took advantage of the monster's open mouth to thrust his weapon into it. He knew that reaching a vital point would have been difficult otherwise, the skull of a bear was robust and the fat on its sides was thick armor, a short blade was of little use.

The knife went through the back of the throat and severed the spinal cord, killing the bear instantly. Its body collapsed, inert, the knife still in place. Ran gasped for breath as the rapid assault system shut down with a mechanical whine.

This system was designed to move quickly across a battlefield, relying on speed to avoid enemy fire, but it put a great deal of strain on the user's body.

Ran walked to the fallen beast and observed it more, the fight was short but intense, even with his exo he wasn’t willing to risk being hit by the monstrous claws, he would have to be more careful from now on, who knew what other monsters could do.

-[Level UP]

-skill [Roar] acquired

Ran smiled as he heard the familiar notification sound, this fight had given him some combat experience both literally and figuratively as well as a new ability.

“Not bad”.

[Roar] was probably what the bear had tried to use against him, it induced paralysis and terror in the targets. But [Cold Blooded] and [Indomitable] had protected him. It would be quite useful for crowd control.

He then saw that Era was already running over to him.

She must have been quite strong compared to the other villagers to have already recovered from the paralysis. Her expression showed surprise and disbelief when she saw the carcass of the animal.

"It's a tetra bear! And this one is giant too! Probably an alpha...

“Is that surprising?”

“Of course it is! The alphas are much bigger than the normal monsters, they are much stronger than their fellows !”

“Yet he was only lvl13.”

“You really forgot everything, didn't you? The levels determine your power among your own growth possibilities, a lvl50 goblin won't even be worth a lvl30 adventurer for example. Wait, how did you even know his level ? Is that also a skill of yours ?"

Ran just nodded.

It made sense, after all he was just level 2 when he had slaughtered 6 men above level 10.

So levels were not an absolute measure of strength, that was a good thing for him, he would have been in quite the predicament if a big difference in levels made his enemies impervious to his attacks. A bullet in the head would still kill all the same…. Right ?