Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

The sun remained still in the sky, thanks to the weather-altering spell Dragun had cast a few hours ago. The radiant glow of the heavenly body blasted onto the battlefield that boiled beneath it, blessing Rowan with illumination and cursing the monsters in blinding light.

At the moment, about three hours had passed since Rowan arrived at the battlefield.

He had successfully cleared off all the D-rank and E-rank monsters that remained on the battlefield.

He focused on dealing with the lower-rank monsters with his own strength, as he would then use the Curse of Death on the stronger monsters. This way, he could maximize the effect of the overpowered skill, which came with a long cooldown.

He could not afford to waste such a skill.

At the moment, he was engaged in intense combat against the C-rank monsters. Currently facing a group of humanoid figures standing about seven feet tall, they possessed thick black scaly skin, their long hands ending with clawed tips, and their wide mouths revealed sets of sharp fangs, ready to tear down the flesh of their foes.

These monsters were known as Julks; the reason for their strange naming remained unknown to Rowan. But one thing he knew was that these monsters were not to be messed with.

SCREECH!

Three of the Julks screeched as they vanished from their current positions.

'They are so fucking fast! That's why they are difficult to kill.'

Rowan thought to himself as he, too, turned into a blur and zapped away from his position to evade the attacks of the three Julks trying to kill him.

The moment he disappeared from that spot, the three Julks appeared.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Their attacks clashed on the same spot that Rowan had just disappeared from, leaving very deep dents on the ground.

The three monsters realized that they had lost their opponent and their eyes moved around.

Thanks to their improved eyesight, they were able to spot Rowan, who was currently sprinting toward them.

The eyes of the hero and the monsters met.

'Fuck!'

Rowan cursed as he began making last-second changes to his attack tactics.

But it was already too late.

The three Julks appeared around him even before he could make a run.

They surrounded him and blocked all his paths of escape before raining down their attacks on him.

Crimson energy wrapped around their sharp claws as they swiped at Rowan.

The lethal sound of the claws tearing through the air reminded Rowan of just what kind of monsters he was up against.

He lifted his sword and blocked.

But he was only able to block one of them before the other two claws clashed with his body, tearing through his armor and injuring his flesh, sending unbearable pain coursing through his system.

Rowan gritted his teeth and bore the anguish of the injuries as he poured his focus into killing the three Julks.

[ Resistance in effect, pain being reduced ]

A familiar notification sounded in his ear.

But he ignored it.

He turned to face the same Julk whose attacks he had just blocked.

Before the monster could send his other hands swiping at him, Rowan chopped its neck with his sword.

While the Julks possessed thick scaly skin that could not be injured by most weapons, they could not resist the damage dealt by Soul Harvester, a weapon that had gotten way stronger thanks to the number of souls it had absorbed so far.

Screech!

Rowan heard the two Julks beside him let out loud screeches as they watched their comrade die.

Without wasting a single second, Rowan latched out from his cornered position and created enough distance between himself and the grieving monsters.

'I cannot afford to underestimate the speed of these bastards!'

Rowan gritted his teeth as he furrowed his eyes at the two Julks that had already begun zapping toward him with lightning speed.

'How would I have managed to take care of these monsters if I did not evolve?'

Rowan knew the answer to that question — both he, his allies, his men and the entire village would be wiped out of existence by a single one of these C-rank monsters.

SCREECH!

The two Julks clashed with Rowan.

Fueled by the rage and sorrow from the death of their comrade, their intelligence dulled, they made rash moves instead of calculated ones that made them unstoppable.

As they confronted Rowan upfront, he was able to easily deflect their attacks and take their lives.

[ You've slayed X2 Julks, EXP +22,000 ]

[ 100X activated.... ]

[ Soul Harvester has.... ]

Rowan could not read the notification when a torrent of the same powerful monsters he had just defeated came flashing in his direction.

They were like a swarm of bees flying toward a specific target.

Rowan dug his feet into the ground and clenched his sword, his eyes shining with brilliant killing intent as he got ready to engage in intense combat.

ZAP!

With lightning speed, he serpented toward the enemies.

The next seconds, a series of movements that could not be noticed by ordinary eyes, began.

'What the fuck!'

Dragun and Eliman, who were floating above the battlefield, were greatly surprised.

Even with their improved eyesight as mages, they could not clearly see the battle between Rowan and the Julks.

What they saw were blurry figures clashing at lightning speed.

The two mages got dizzy and tired from simply trying to tell which blurry figure was Rowan.

This sensation lasted for about half an hour.

Under their watch, other C-rank monsters joined in the mix and the battlefield got even more complicated.

Another half an hour passed and the battle boiled on.

The blurry figures did not get any slower and the numbers did not get any smaller.

Both of them even had to fly higher in order not to get caught in the chaos happening below them.

Meanwhile, Rowan simply enjoyed the thrilling feeling of fighting at such astonishing speed against powerful opponents.

His kill count per second went up to around five kills, which was excellent considering he was battling against monsters several times faster than him with versatile powers.

The only downside from it all was that his hands began to ache thanks to the stress exerted on them.

But it would soon end as he got ready to use the Curse of Death.

"Eliman, Dragun, Black Drifter... Leave at once."