Legendary Beast Master: Starting with Contracting SSS Rank Dragon-Chapter 52: No Skill

The axe-wielder was his next target. The monster lunged toward Kael’s side, but he twisted his body easily to dodge it. The axe missed by inches, biting into the air.

Kael didn’t stay idle and did a spinning backhand swipe, his claws leaving afterimages of silver light. The attack struck cleanly across the Piglin’s snout, sending it stumbling back with a gurgling scream.

The third Piglin—the one with the sword—saw an opening and charged with a downward slash aimed at Kael’s exposed back. But Kael didn’t even look at it.

His aura flared up.

A bolt of lightning erupted from his back like a whip, slamming into the sword Piglin’s chest. It screeched as electricity coursed through its body, paralyzing it completely.

Kael turned around and drove his claws into the creature’s stomach with vicious force, lifting it off the ground before flinging it into a wall. Bones cracked audibly as it slumped down, dead.

Behind him, the axe-wielder Piglin had recovered and came barreling in, bellowing furiously. It was angry at him for killing its teammates.

Kael clicked his tongue and leaned forward, letting the [Lightning Mantle] guide his movements.

Time seemed to have slowed down as he dodged the wild overhead swing with barely a tilt of his head, then lunged forward. His claws slashed upward in a savage motion, ripping through the Piglin’s chest and neck in one clean sweep.

Its eyes bulged as it dropped to its knees, gurgled, then fell face-first with a thud—its body turning into ashes like its companions as everything scattered in the silent winds.

Kael exhaled slowly as the battlefield fell quiet. Soul Power poured into him—much more than he had ever received aside from the time when he killed Stephan.

"Impressive..." Kiona’s voice echoed from behind, her steps slow as she approached the battlefield. Her gaze swept across the ashes before settling on him with admiration—and a trace of something deeper.

"I didn’t even get to fight," she teased, crossing her arms but failing to hide the grin tugging at her lips.

Kael shook his head, chuckling. "You’ll get your turn. I need the EXP more than you do."

"Still... that speed and control," she murmured, her voice softer now, thoughtful. "Your movements... they weren’t just fast. They were calculated—beautiful, even. Like you’ve practiced every strike a thousand times."

She remembered how Kael had started his journey just a few days ago as an F-Rank. So how did he get so much experience?

"Every fight is a dance," he said with a smile, "and if you misstep, you die."

Kiona blinked at him, then gave a slow nod. "Well, remind me never to dance with you."

Kael laughed at that.

’Good! It seems like she’s finally getting in the mood for joking.’

She turned her gaze forward, scanning the corridor that went deeper into the fortress. "How many more do you think you need to rank up?"

"Dozens," Kael replied, flexing his claws once more. "Maybe more. My Soul Core isn’t easily satisfied."

A beat passed.

Then a group of Piglins carrying staffs entered the corridor. They must have sensed the commotion and come here, but it was well within Kael’s expectations.

They had the map and had already guessed the enemies they might face after battling one. So, they were ready for the incoming assault.

"They don’t have skills," Kael said. "But their physical strength is really good, so try to use your skills to injure them. I’ll deal with them later so we can finish this quickly."

Usually, a monster in a Labyrinth develops skills from E-Rank. It wasn’t common, but Kael thought it should be normal among Piglins who seemed like elite monsters.

So he was confused as to why they didn’t have a skill. But after fighting them, he understood the reason. Their lack of skills was compensated by their terrifying physical strength.

Sadly for them, their enemy was a dragon tailored for fighting, so Kael’s physical strength was much higher than theirs. Naturally, they stood no chance against him, with no advantage at all aside from numbers.

Kiona nodded, as flames flared up around her. She wanted to use her flames to support him to finish the battle quickly. She said, "I have expended a lot of mana."

Kael nodded, taking a step forward. "We’ll go for chests and treasures after this, so I’m sure we can get some mana recovery potions."

The two of them nodded at each other and jumped into battle with the Piglins. There was a total of four of them, and Kael tanked all of them, followed by Fireballs from Kiona which pushed them back but didn’t do any significant damage—just as Kael had said.

Using the opportunity, Kael finished off one of them by ripping its throat apart from its body. He then flung it away toward the wall as it slowly began to crumble into ashes.

Just as the Piglins had come back to their senses, one of them swung its staff at Kael. The air vibrated under its force, and Kael was sure that if it hit him, it would definitely cause a lot of pain.

So, he skillfully ducked under it—but found another staff coming at him. He was going to cut it when a fireball came hurling at it and shifted its trajectory.

Kael gave an internal thanks to Kiona and slashed off the legs of the Piglin. For the first time, he felt resistance from something after he had used his claws.

It showed just how tough the Piglins were—but they still fell to his attacks nonetheless. With Kiona supporting him from behind, he was fighting all of them easily.

Though, he was also making sure none got past him, as he couldn’t be sure if Kiona would last long against a direct physical confrontation with these monsters.

Just as he had finished off the second Piglin, he noticed one of the Piglins was eyeing Kiona, frustrated by her constant meddling in their battle.

’Not so soon, buddy,’ Kael smiled and kicked the Piglin’s chin while shouting, "Sweet Chin Music!"

’What kind of skill name is that?’ Kiona blinked in confusion, momentarily forgetting to attack.

However, in the next moment, a smile formed on her face when she saw the Piglin being thrown into the air with its jaw shattered. novelbuddy-cσ๓

’This move will go well with my uppercut. Perfect combination!’

Shaking those thoughts off, she formed a flaming spear and hurled it behind her, as it struck a Flame Elemental that had wandered near them sensing the commotion.

It exploded under the impact, leaving behind a bar of metal that dropped onto the floor.

Kiona ignored it and focused back on Kael’s battle, but then realized he had already finished everyone. She sighed, ’He is one rank below me, yet he’s stronger than me. Is this what a Dragon is?’

Kael came toward her and said, "Let’s go. We need some potions."

Kiona nodded and pointed toward the metal bars. "A Flame Elemental dropped them."

"Oh? A drop?" Kael walked toward the metal bars and picked them up. "These can be used well for some Artefacts."

He thought about its uses and then said, "We’ll store it in the chests for now. Once we are leaving, we can take them back."

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