Shane was caught off guard but his mind was still relatively calm because of his passive [Hunter's Mind] that helped him to evade the fireballs with ease.
Standing up smoothly after a perfect roll, Shane exerted his mana within his body to the body's maximum capabilities before he turned into the direction of the five fiery scaled lizards.
Pushing himself from the ground, Shane crossed the distance of 15 meters quickly as his 7th Mortal physique was strengthened by a thin layer of mana.
The increase was only marginal but enough to overwhelm the fiery scaled lizards. His speed made the lizards change their tactics and switch to emitting flames instead of their long rage fireball attack in order to prevent him from coming closer.
Instead of charging straight through the flames, this time he decided to avoid them. He jumped back three steps from his earlier position where the flames would have hit him, had he been still standing there.
Adjusting his direction to the left, he maintained a distance of more than four meters which the flames couldn't even remotely reach. He was baiting them to use up all the mana and consequently weaken them before he could charge at them again.
Counting the seconds in his mind, Shane figured out that they could at most sustain spitting flames for five seconds which was important to know for future battles.
Right as the flames diminished, Shane could be seen charging at the closest fiery scaled lizard. With his body leaning forward, his shiolite dagger was ready to feast on his opponents' blood.
Umbra's lower end of the body was coiled around Shane's neck, while the rest of his body lay upon his shoulder in order to not be thrown off. Umbra was doing his best in helping Shane by attacking the lizards with shadow needles.
Shane's role in his life and his abrupt movements had taken a toll on Umbra, but he had grown accustomed to it. Over the last 20+ days, he had fought in hundreds of battles alongside Shane.
While Shane stabbed out with his dagger at the closest fiery scaled lizard, Umbra tried to distract the remaining four opponents with the shadow needles aimed at their eyes, giving Shane the required opportunity to pierce through his opponent's neck with ease.
Not wasting a single second to assure himself if the fiery scaled lizard was really dead, he twisted his body. and jumped into the air. He narrowly avoided one of the fiery scaled lizards' maws that were about to bite his leg.
Kicking out, his foot smashed into the fiery scaled lizard's head, and Shane used its head to jump above which was meant to enter the remaining scaled lizard's center.
Shane wasn't even sure how much cooling time the fiery scaled lizards required before they would spew out flames once again.
As such, eradicating his threat sooner than later was the best option.
Thrusting his bloody dagger towards the closest fiery scaled lizard, he rammed it in the thick layer of scales on its back. He then pulled the dagger back, not forgetting to twist it within the wound, ripping out a thick layer of flesh.
Blood splattered on his face and clothes while the fiery scaled lizard in front of him shrieked in pain.
The remaining lizards noticed that they had underestimated their opponent, however, the realization had cost them the death of two of their brethren.
Hate, agony, and wrath surged through their bodies, and they lost all reasoning as they charged at Shane with mana enhancing their physique and speed.
Even though they were at the late-Wild stage, they couldn't keep up with Shane's speed which was his specialty, while the complete opposite was the case for the fiery scaled lizards.
Inflicting serious injuries on all three remaining fiery scaled lizards within a few seconds, Shane ended the battle with a lethal attack on their vital spots.
After the fight ended, Shane looked around to see if another group of scaled lizards had been attracted by their noisy battle. But he was glad to not hear any steps or other sounds indicating that a group of beasts was approaching him.
Picking up the fiery scaled lizard corpses, Shane looked around once again.
He had used up quite a bit of his mana, but the surrounding was filled with dense and distinct mana particles. Shane was even able to exert the mana gathering technique while walking around and replenish his mana pool to some extent.
The suction force was weakened while walking around but it was still more than enough for him to replenish his mana within a relatively short time.
Shane had noticed this feature during his daily hunts over the last two weeks because halting his hunt to exert the mana gathering technique and replenish his mana was time-consuming.
In the same large cave hall that Shane was already in, he could see another few fiery scaled lizards with an aqueous scaled lizard. Shane saw something he would never forget in his whole life.
The scaled lizards in front of him were copulating and Shane didn't even want to get closer to them, letting them enjoy themselves for the last time in their lives as he glanced at the timer.
There was not enough time left, to let them enjoy each other. Shane charged forward, surprising the small group of copulating scaled lizards causing them to turn angry.
Unfortunately, they had noticed Shane way too late and their necks were already pierced by his dagger as they roared out.
As they slumped into an eternal sleep, the last thing they had done was copulate and Shane thought that one could have died in a worse situation.
At least they had some fun just before dying, right?
Picking up the corpses, he decided to sell the fiery scaled lizards at his shop, because it was useless to let them remain within his spatial ring.
While fighting the fiery scaled lizards, Shane noticed that they didn't injure each other with the flames they spit. That indicated a decent fire resistance which would fetch him a higher price than he had previously estimated, even though they were only at the peak of the Wild stage.
Clothes and accessories produced out of Elemental beasts were extremely rare and even more expensive because of their additional elemental resistance traits. As such, Shane decided to sell the fiery scaled lizards for 7 silver each, which was extremely high compared to other wild-stage corpses.
However, it wouldn't be considered a fraud and many artisans were always on the lookout for new materials, hence he hoped that everything would work out.
At least, that was what Shane thought while he looked at the scales of the aqueous scaled lizard.
It's scales were neither thick nor solid, they seemed to be in a liquefied form as if water bubbles were underneath the scales.
He tried popping them with his fingers but couldn't burst them open, which was weird.
He then pierced into the scales with his dagger and the bubbles burst open, splashing his face with the liquid. It released a mild fragrance that surprised him.
`Huh? What is that?` Shane started to wonder as a nice smell entered his nostrils.
Shane wasn't sure what it was, but he felt fully awake as if he had consumed a few energy drinks in a row.
As such, he ripped out a few additional scales and stored the remaining corpses away, without placing them into the spatial ring.
Trying to forget what he had seen moments ago, Shane looked around for other scaled lizards that might have heard him massacring their brethren but there was not a single one.
Turning around, Shane continued on his path, as he noticed a mixed group of earthy and breezy scaled lizards he hadn't seen before.
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