'There must be something that supplies power into that gate. But where?' Leon thought while recalling what he learned from the arcana skill while looking around himself carefully.

*Raaaagh!*

But it seems so, this new "friend" of Leon isn't as patient as him. Waking up Leon from his thoughts with its loud roar, Leon turns his head to the monster.

"Ah, you were here too, right? Excuse my rudeness, Mr. Monster," Leon said while positioning himself for the battle he will have.

As their gaze meets, using its arms like another two legs, the monster runs towards Leon.

Crossing dozens of meters within seconds, it only takes the monster 3 seconds to reach Leon. The monster, as soon as it gets close to Leon, opening its both arms that end up with claws while jumping, strikes Leon.

[-70 Qi] [Qi: 630/900]

'Fuck, he is fast,' Leon thought as he used his Qi to avoid the monster's clawed "hug".

*Bam!*

Shortly after doing a somersault on the floor and dodging its claws, Leon hears a loud metallic impact sound.

Turning his head to look at the metallic door he was standing in front of just a second ago, Leon saw the monster completely crushed it under its strength.

But seeing this scene didn't scare Leon. Instead, it just made him more excited to fight.

After completing dozens of trials, and dying as many times as the amount of trials he completed, Leon's instincts such as fear, hesitancy or any kind of survival instinct that a normal human would have has become less effective on him. Leon doesn't know whether these will affect his emotions one day, but he will try his best to keep the last things that attach him to humanity and to his past, his emotions.

But the important thing is completing this trial now, because only time will show what he will become.

Standing up from the floor, "You better pay for it," Leon said sarcastically while spinning the Torchlight in his hand.

*Raaaagh!*

Pulling out its claws from the metal door, the monster sent out a loud roar as if responding to Leon before attacking him again.

[-200 Qi] [Qi: 430/900]

"No?" While channeling Qi into his whole body and the Torchlight, "Tsk, these days, monsters have no respect at all," Leon joked as he started running towards the monster.

But why isn't he using all of his Qi? Simple, because how much Qi he can use depends on his cultivation rank. Yet, this doesn't mean he can't exceed the limit, because he can. However, doing so will affect Leon's body badly, like causing pain and making him tired faster.

Getting out his shield from inventory in midway, in a few seconds, the Torchlight and the monster's claws clashes with each other.

Even though Leon uses his Qi to close the power gap between him and the monster, it is still not enough, as it pushes Leon with every strike. Leaving behind sparkles, claw and sword illuminates the room for a few milliseconds before they meet again. Creating new damage marks on Leon's shield, armor, and on the Torchlight, the monster strikes brutally without giving a chance to Leon.

*Clang*

*Clang*

When the monster stopped his sword by grasping it with its claws, "Oh, not good!" Leon said, as the monster raised its arm that was covered with a green, unknown energy.

Seeing its attack, Leon raised his shield to tank the damage.

"Activate [SHIELD MASTERY]!" Leon commanded instinctively.

[ACTIVATED, REMAINING TIME SECONDS]

[DAMAGES THAT ARE BLOCKED WITH A SHIELD WILL BE %15 REDUCED]

*Boom!*

As soon as the monster's fist touched Leon's shield, leaving a deep fist mark on the shield, created a shock-wave that shook the room with its power.

*Crack!*

*Crack!*

Breaking every bone in his left arm, the impact sent Leon to the room's wall.

*Crash!*

Losing almost his consciousness, Leon crashed into the wall like a rag doll while creating a hole in it.

[-250 HP] [HP: 310/1.030]

*Cough*

*Cough*

'F-fuck, I can't feel my left arm,' Leon gritted in pain while coughing blood.

Leon turned his head to check the condition of his left arm.

Briefly, it was unusable. As his lifeblood was splashing out like a fountain, all the bones in his arm had gone out from many points by piercing through his flesh and skin. And even though he couldn't see, by feeling the bones piercing his lungs, he could feel that his rib cage was crushed, too.

[-10 HP] [HP: 300/1.030]

[-10 HP] [HP: 290/1.030]

...

Feeling his body becoming heavier with every breath, "Ugh, it hurts like hell!" Leon said while trying to move his body to stand up again.

But his body wasn't listening to him.

As the monster's shadow started appearing through the dust cloud, "Move body, move," Leon's effort to stand up increased with it too.

*Step*

*Step*

With slow steps, the monster walked to his prey while swinging its tail.

Not accepting a death like this, "Burning veins!" Leon forced his body.

...

[-15 HP] [HP: 185/1.030]

[-10 HP] [HP: 175/1.030]

...

As flames flowed through his veins, Leon started standing up as his whole body trembled from the damage.

*Drip*

*Drip*

The monster stood in front of Leon like a grim reaper that will take his soul to the afterworld.

Leon lifted his head to look at the monster's eyes while blood drops fell to the ground from his trembling body.

With this, two red dots and two green dots gazed at each other.

"*Cough!* S-sorry, but giving up is *Cough!* not my cup of tea," Leon smiled as blood flowed out of his mouth.

*Stab*

[-100 HP] [HP: 50/1.030]

Looking below, Leon saw the monster's claw that was stabbed at his chest, causing more blood to flow out.

But rather than finishing him, the monster lifted Leon up to see how this "weird" prey of his loses life.

Little did the monster know that this was its biggest mistake...

Accepting his death, Leon was going to close his heavy eyelids when his eyes caught something bright positioned behind the dimensional gate.

It was a crystal.

And not just a regular crystal, it was a mana crystal.

Directly looking at the monster's eyes, "Didn't your parents tell you not to play with your food?" Leon smirked when he lifted his right arm, aiming at the crystal.

"Fireball!" Leon cast a spell.

[-100 MP] [MP: 40/940]

*Vroom!*

*Crack!*

*Crack!*

With the hit of the fireball, the crystal breaks into pieces, causing the dimensional gate to close.

Looking at Leon with anger, the monster opens its jaw to full capacity to crush his skull under its teeth.

*Crush*

Unfortunately, Leon wasn't able to do anything as the monster crushed his skull under tons of bite force.

...

...

...

In a faraway place & time, silent school corridors suddenly filled with the loud sound of the ring.

*RING!!!*

After the bell rang, opening the class doors, a lot of students came out from their classes with joy...

-CHAPTER 28 END-