Nexus didn't waste his chance as he pounced on the metal hunter leader. Other metal hunters attacked him, but he ignored their attack.
Small cuts and bruises appeared throughout his body as the metal element disrupted the naturally flowing poison elemental energy in his body.
Due to the corroded metal body, he was able to hold out; otherwise, this type of strategy would have gotten him killed before.
Pinning the metal hunter leader to the ground, he tried to bite it on its face, though the metal hunter leader blocked it with its hands.
Crack!!
Cracking sounds started to be heard as the metal hunter's leader's arm started to break. It cried out in pain as its three tails pierced one of Nexus's eyes.
"GGG!!!"
Blood spilled as Nexus forced himself not to open his mouth, using the pain as motivation. He bit even harder, ripping the arm off.
"CRRR!!!!"
The metal hunter leader roared at Nexus as it took the opportunity to kick Nexus's body from below, sending him flying up.
It roared as the core in its body started to glow, and metal energy started to converge as other metal hunters also roared.
Nexus watched in horror as metal energy around him started to solidify, turning into spikes that pierced him from all sides. Although the damage was shallow, the pain could be said to be mind-crushing.
Munueviring his massive body, he tried to slam toward the metal hunter leader, though with its fast speed, it dodged. The metal hunters near it weren't so lucky as Nexus massive body crushed many of them.
Nexus swung his tail like a whip as he destroyed all the metal hunters surrounding him. Those barely alive were now covered in his poisoned blood as their life force slowly withered away.
Seeing its herd on the verge of wipeout, the metal hunter leader cried out in anger as its body started to glow. A ball of metal energy gathered in its mouth as it was ready to use its rare skill.
Nexus wasn't about to let him do that as he opened his mouth, a purple arrow formed as it radiated an intense, poisonous aura.
[Mana -99, Poison arrow]
[Mana -101, Extreme Poison]
His attack didn't require charging as he fired at the now stationary Metal Hunters leader; the arrow travelled at four times the speed of sound as it made contact with the Metal Hunters leader's head.
The attack that was being charged and his arrow met head-on as they exploded, the poison consumed the metal as the metal hunter's leader's upper body melted away.
Nexus looked at the remaining Metal Hunters and charged at them. Without their leader, they stood no chance against him as they fell one by one.
Looking at the silent cave, Nexus's nerves calmed down as his massive body fell. He was utterly exhausted and didn't even have the ability to move.
Time passed like a blur as a week went by. Inside the cave, the serenity that had lasted a week was broken as Nexus opened his eyes.
One of his pupils looked dull as he was now blind in one eye, and his other wounds had more or less healed. He took a moment to get used to his new vision as he looked around.
He checked the system and saw two messages..
[Experience +3000]
It was all the experience he had gotten this week, with just one battle; he was almost nearing the peak of beast rank.
But what surprised him wasn't this but the next message.
[Congratulations on killing a Refined Metal Hunter(Green), getting a rare rank treasure chest.]
He had gotten a treasure chest; this was the second treasure chest he had gotten after that human named Ray Bronze. Since he hadn't gotten anything good from that treasure chest, he had almost forgotten about this feature of the system.
"Open."
He commanded as the treasure chest in his system panel disappeared, he watched in silence as a silver tear-shaped liquid appeared in his inventory.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Name: Metal Essence- 1 Drop
Grade: B-(Greater than C but lower than an average B)
Attribute: Metal
Effect: A pure form of metal energy formed due to the bloodline of a Green Grade or higher bloodline grade beast. Its quality depends on the bloodline of the beast. It can be consumed by a beast below green grade and at green grade bloodline for a chance of bloodline evolution. The success is 100% for the former and 25% for the latter. It can also be used to enhance the quality of the item below a C grade.
Special Effect: It is very unfriendly to poison element, so consuming it will also be a negative effect for a poison elemental beast.
Description: An item so rare that it is a near impossibility to find below the bloodline grade of Cyan, after which all beasts will form it upon their death.
=-=-=-=-=-
He was first pleasantly surprised by its quality, then that suprise quickly turned into disappointment as he looked at its special effect.
Putting that aside, from now on, he looked at the dead body of the metal hunter leader; he now understood why it was so strong. After all, it was a green grade bloodline, something that only top players currently possess.
He had also noticed his ranking; he was now ranked sixth in the eastern winding forest, so he wasn't too far behind the top players.
Looking at its body, he raised his claws and crushed it; the metal shell collapsed as a half-crystallized metal ball fell down.
"There it is."
He muttered as he put it in his inventory: every monster in the beast rank will have its heart semi-crystallized; in the elite beast rank, it will fully crystallize; and in the Beast Lord rank, it will transform into a core.
Well, this is the information he had learned from Silvia, so it should be more or less true. After putting it in the inventory, he wondered what rank it would be.