Dylan's eyes narrowed into cold, unforgiving slits. The air around him subtly shifted, the extremely pure Innate Energy in his newly awakened Spirit Core pulsing with absolute stability.
He sneered, "You seriously thought I wouldn't have sensed your cultivations when you entered my home? You three might be dumber than I thought. Me being here is me saying that I can take all three of you on!"
"Why you?!" The fatty's brows furrowed as he wanted to attack but Nathan's hands stopped him.
"Boss!" Fatty was about to protest when he saw that Nathan's veins were popping out, his eyes twitching and his smile strained.
"Wahahaha, you're that confident, are you?" Nathan was obviously pissed at Dylan's behavior. He pointed at the fatty and the long haired man, "I think you would not even be able to defeat Ethan or Joe here."
"Hey, the two of you, Fuck him up real good!" Nathan ordered the long-haired Ethan and the fatty to attack.
But Dylan did not wait for the two of them to attack. The moment Nathan looked over at Ethan, he had already lunged forward.
*Whoosh*
Boosting his entire legs with Innate Energy, his already explosive speed had become twice as fast! Nathan and Fat Joe could not react to Dylan's explosive leap. He had already appeared in front of them the next moment. Planting his feet, Dylan delivered a devastating uppercut to Nathan's chin.
*Clang!*
'Hm?' Dylan felt like he hit something metallic and it rang. But he did not pay too much heed to it as he continued to attack. He delivered a set of continuous, rapid straight strikes from the center line which was his sternum to his stomach since he was rising upwards.
Fat Joe had tried to attack him as he retrieved a mace from his Spatial Pouch, powered up his strike with Innate Energy.
But Dylan had already side stepped, making Fat Joe miss his attack!
*Boom!*
With his sidestep, he made Fat Joe trip with a low kick in one movement. He raised planted his two feet and delivered two downward strikes with both his fists in a successive motion!
*Bang* *Bang*
Those two successive hammer strikes sounded like gunfire that embedded Fat Joe on the ground.
Dylan was about to deliver a deadly stomp to Fat Joe's neck. His foot was just about to reach Joe's throat when he saw a scaley arm bind around his feet. When he followed the weird scaley arm, he saw it came from Ethan.
'A beast type martial Spirit?' It was Dylan's first encounter with beast-type martial spirits. Unlike Ronald's group which mainly had weapons as martial spirits, it seems like these people might have beast type martial spirits.
"Vice Grip!" Ethan's arm actually extended like a snake and gripped Dylan's entire leg and then flung him away from Fat Joe, smashing him in the ground afterwards.
*Bang!*
Dylan coughed up some blood after crashing on the ground. He remembered facts about beast martial spirits, 'Beast Martial Spirits give their users the ability enhanced physical abilities with their beast-like powers, the power to partially transform parts of their bodies of the form their martial spirit assumes. If mastered, full beast transformation is attained plus giving them the ability to transform like a demi-human hybrid.'
"I can't believe that we have to gang up on a fucking person at the Spirit Veins." Ethan had released his martial spirit which was a Two-Headed Snake. The skin of his two arms turned into snake scales as he attacked Dylan.
"Hiss~ Hiss~!"
"Venom Spray!" The two extended arms became two snake heads that shot out. The two snake heads shot out and sprayed a dangerous amount of green venom!
Dylan was able to evade the attack with a quick side step transitioning to an explosive one step cut-in to close the distance between him and Ethan. The venom hit nothing but it corroded the thick trees and the ground that it touched!
'So fast?!' Ethan thought while blocking but he met Dylan's fist which immediately rendered the block useless.
In just one second, he delivered a devastating barrage of body blows and one-twos on the face which overwhelmed Ethan. He finished with a round house kick by pivoting his base foot and swinging his leg in an arc to strike with the top of his foot.
*Boom*
That round house kick from Dylan sent Ethan flying!
"Hm?!" Dylan wanted to chase but he was suddenly blocked and rammed by a fast approaching large tortoise shell with spikes.
"Tortoise Rush!"
He reinforced his arms with Innate Energy but he was still pushed back by the spiked shell.
*Bang*
Dylan was sent flying from that attack, he somersaulted and landed on both feet. He saw that the one that just attacked was Fat Joe who had a Spiked Shell Tortoise as his martial spirit.
Then, he picked up an attack from above! It was Nathan!
"Gorilla Smash!" With his torso and arms transformed into a Silver Armored Gorilla, he smashed his transformed arms on the ground which created a huge ten meter fissure!
*Bang!*
Dylan was able to safely distance himself away from the three. "Their attacks were coordinated. It seems they are used to fighting beside each other."
"Hahaha, it seems you were all talk." Nathan whose jaw had transformed into an armored jaw, said.
"I admit that your fast and your strong. But we have beast martial spirits, we are sturdy and used to physical encounters! Your attacks are futile." Fat Joe remarked confidently.
"Hahaha, we can easily kill you in in no time." Ethan smiled sinisterly.
"Hah, you haven't even injured, much less damage me significantly. Is that how three Awakened Spirit experts should be faring against to a Spirit Veins Realm cultivator?" Dylan smirked as he mocked their incompetence.
"?!" The trios face were flushed.
"Y-you just got lucky!! We will make sure you die a gruesome death." Nathan angrily replied.
"Also, now, I can finally engrave your faces properly without those masks." Dylan said as he showed the three masks they were previously wearing.
"What do you-" The three froze as they realized that the masks Dylan was holding were actually theirs.
The had cold sweat realizing that Dylan was actually prioritizing identifying them first rather than fighting them seriously immediately, 'Does that mean while we were fighting? He removed our masks?'
"Hm, weren't you with that enthusiastic youth earlier?" He recognized their faces since he had served them earlier in lunch. They were the guys who were with Darren.
"So you ate in my restaurant and decided to rob me? You three are ungrateful pieces of shit." Dylan's voice dropped, cold and laced with disdain. "To think I served my dishes to scum who repay hospitality with theft and murder."
Nathan's jaw twitched, his armored gorilla form tensing as his pride took a massive hit. "Shut your damn mouth! You think taking off our masks changes anything?! You're still just a brat in the Spirit Veins Realm, trapped in a three-on-one fight! I will rip of your limbs one by one!"
"Three-on-one?" Dylan tossed the masks onto the ground, his lips curling into a frigid smile. "All I see are three test dummies to help me test my new strength."
Dylan assumed a fighting stance once more as he focused his strength on his arms and feet. The pure white Innate Energy that he was emanating was shining through the night. It even seemed to be interacting with the moonlight as the pure white energy shone with sprinkles of moonlight and starlight.
'What is this feeling?' Subconsciously, Nathan, Ethan and Joe took a step back.
'What kind of Innate Energy is that?! They felt an inherent sense of inferiority from Dylan now that they witnessed his Innate Energy. It felt like there was a semblance of divinity within it.
"Arrogant bastard!" Ethan spat, venom oozing from the twin snake heads formed by his scaled arms. "Joe, cover me! Let's rip his limbs off!"
Fat Joe roared, his body pulling inward as the spiked tortoise shell expanded, turning him into a heavy, spiked vanguard. He charged forward like a runaway fortress, tearing up dirt and uprooting small bushes. "Tortoise Rampage!"
Simultaneously, Ethan slithered around the flank, his extended snake-like arms whipping through the dark forest air, preparing to blindside Dylan with another wave of corrosive venom.
Behind them both, Nathan crouched, his legs swelling with gorilla-like muscle as he prepared to deliver a decisive, skull-crushing strike from above the moment Dylan was pinned.
It was a textbook pincer tactic perfected through years of street brawls and gang raids.
Dylan didn't budge. Instead, the white starlight within his Spirit Core flickered, flooding through his unsealed Spirit Veins with an overwhelming, pristine resonance.
'Using beast martial spirits to enhance defense and range... predictable,' Dylan thought cleanly. 'Their coordination relies entirely on that fatty absorbing the initial blow.'
As Fat Joe's spiked shell neared, threatening to impale him, Dylan shifted his base foot by just half an inch. He didn't block. He didn't retreat. He simply slipped right past the spiked momentum using the explosive footwork of his newly elevated realm.
*SWOOSH!*
"What?!" Fat Joe's eyes widened as his heavy shell crashed into empty air.
Before the fatty could redirect his momentum, Dylan's hand shot out like a lightning rod, catching the edge of the spiked tortoise shell with his bare, Innate Energy-enveloped palm. His innate energy neutralized the impact instantly.
With a sudden, terrifying display of raw physical force, Dylan twisted his hips and leveraged Fat Joe's own massive weight right into the path of Ethan's incoming venom attack!
*SPLASH!*
"AAAAGH! MY SHELL! IT BURNS!" Fat Joe screamed as Ethan's green venom splashed full force onto his spiked back, corroding the defensive shell and sizzling into his flesh. He rolled on the ground as he tried to remove the venom.