MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 381: Hammer

His head abruptly snapped to the side, sharp instincts flaring to life.

His eyes narrowed, locking onto the precise location of the assailant.

Without hesitation, his figure blurred forward, a streak of motion cutting through the air, as he moved to eliminate her first.

Leaving her unchecked would only invite further complications.

After all, where there was one attacker, there were surely others waiting in the shadows.

Engaging them all at once would be far from ideal.

'I wonder how many soldiers the military has deployed here'

Anthony thought as he advanced.

As Anthony closed the distance with swift, predatory strides, the woman remained motionless.

She stood amidst the cluster of trees, a faint, knowing smile tugging at her lips as she watched him approach, calm, composed, unshaken.

Ordinarily, an archer would retreat, seeking distance to rain down arrows from safety.

But she defied convention.

Without warning, a dagger materialized in her palm, its dark edge gleaming beneath the canopy's fractured light.

With effortless precision, she swung.

Steel met steel, her dagger clashing against Anthony's descending axe.

The impact rang out like thunder.

In the next instant, the tree beneath them splintered violently, shattering into fragments as raw force rippled through its trunk.

Anthony wasn't the least bit surprised that she had parried his strike with a dagger.

After all, every soldier in the military was trained to wield more than just their primary weapon, proficiency in multiple forms of combat was a basic requirement.

'D- rank'

Anthony's sharp gaze appraised her calmly.

The military had deliberately restrained their soldiers to the D- rank, two full tiers below in terms of mana capability, as a means to handicap them.

In a blur of motion, both figures moved, their silhouettes flickering through the dense forest as they exchanged a rapid flurry of blows.

Sparks erupted with every clash of metal, scattering embers into the air.

A few stray leaves caught fire, drifting down like burning fragments of ash.

The ground quaked beneath their relentless movements, roots tore, soil split, and trees groaned under the pressure of their footwork.

But Anthony had no intention of dragging this fight out.

Efficiency, that was his style.

His arm whipped forward, his axe carving through the air in a brutal arc aimed to cleave her down.

Yet once again, she flowed effortlessly to the side, evading his strike with little more than a graceful step.

That same smile lingered on her face, calm, confident, untouched.

But then, something entered her vision.

A blur of movement from above.

A shoe?

No.

Toes.

By the time realization dawned, it was already too late.

Anthony's toe-heel crashed into the side of her temple, a precise, controlled strike carrying the full weight of his momentum.

BAM

The sickening sound of impact echoed through the forest.

Her head snapped violently to the side, the force twisting her neck along with it, her body lifted clean off the ground before being sent hurtling through the air.

She crashed through a cluster of trees with a brutal thud, splintered bark and debris trailing in her wake.

But before her battered body could even settle against the shattered trees, it vanished.

Gone without a trace.

Anthony came to a halt, his sharp gaze scanning the surroundings.

Silence.

He couldn't sense her presence anymore, not her aura, not even the faintest trace of mana.

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'So that's how it is'

A thought formed swiftly in his mind.

'It seems once a soldier takes a clean hit, they're removed from the field'

It made sense.

There was no realistic way for recruits at their level to outright defeat trained soldiers in prolonged combat.

The military had clearly placed yet another handicap on their forces, forcing the recruits to focus on precision, timing, and the ability to land a decisive blow rather than brute strength alone.

Anthony, reaching his conclusion, wasted no time.

Without sparing the vanished soldier another thought, he turned on his heel.

But before he could even take a single step, a figure erupted from the underbrush with the speed of a spring being released, its motion sudden, violent, and unmistakably lethal.

Instinct took over.

Anthony's body dropped slightly, his shoulders rolling, his center of gravity shifting as his feet spun beneath him in a fluid, precise evasion.

But he didn't merely avoid the strike, he retaliated.

A flash of steel, gleaming in the dim light.

A rain of crimson.

The snake, its sleek, serpentine form barely visible in the shadows was cleaved in half before it could even react.

Its head flew clean from its body, sending a spray of green blood across the already verdant leaves, staining them with the mark of death.

'Monsters. C rank'

The thought flashed through Anthony's mind, sharp and unbothered.

Without a second glance, he continued on, his focus unbroken as he pressed forward.

Another monster descended from the canopy above, a bird this time, its wings beating the air with a savage intensity.

From its lofty perch, it rained down hardened feathers, each one sharp and deadly, aimed at Anthony with unerring precision.

But Anthony didn't waste time parrying.

This time, he did not retreat or dodge in a conventional sense.

He moved.

Like smoke slipping through cracks, he glided between the vicious onslaught of feathers, his body a mere shadow in motion, untouchable, unstoppable.

Each movement was a blink, a fraction of time stolen from the world, as if the very fabric of reality bent to his will.

With a subtle, almost imperceptible shift of his will, Anthony called upon the wind element.

The air responded instantly, swirling around him like a living thing, coiling tightly before propelling him upward with the force of a storm.

It wasn't flight, it was sheer, unrelenting speed.

In the blink of an eye, Anthony surged toward the bird, his body moving faster than thought itself, a blur of motion cutting through the sky.

The bird had no time to react.

Before it could even register his presence, his axe was already in motion.

A single, precise strike.

The bird's head was severed cleanly from its body, the movement so swift it seemed as though the very air had split in two.

Gravity, relentless and unyielding, soon took its claim.

The decapitated corpse plummeted to the ground with a dull thud, its wings twitching uselessly as it fell.

Anthony pressed on, his movements deliberate, never lingering on any fallen enemy for more than the briefest moment.

As his feet made contact with the ground, a vine shot up from the earth, coiling around his legs like a serpent, its tendrils laced with poison that seeped into his skin through the pores.

But Anthony was unfazed.

He didn't need to defend against such petty attacks.

His Poison Body skill rendered him impervious, immune to toxins and venoms alike.

With a flick of his will, fire erupted beneath his feet, spreading outward in an inferno that consumed the plant and its roots in an instant, leaving nothing but smoldering ash in its wake.

Without pausing, he moved on, his pace steady.

Minutes passed, the battlefield silent in his wake.

A soldier?

Dealt with in less than a minute, this was the greatest respect he could offer them, a quick, merciful end.

A monster?

A single stroke, under two seconds.

They died before they even realized they were under attack, their final moments snuffed out like a flickering candle, extinguished before it had time to burn.

Traps were laid thick around him, each one a calculated hazard designed to slow his progress, but Anthony merely sidestepped or obliterated them with a casual swipe of his axe.

The first trap was a false floor, its deceptive surface hiding poisoned spears poised beneath.

Without missing a beat, Anthony's axe cleaved through the floorboards, rendering the threat moot before the spears could even spring into action.

Then came the illusion, a hoard of beasts, their snarling forms rushing at him from every direction, an illusion meant to overwhelm his senses.

But Anthony didn't flinch.

His eyes remained indifferent, unbothered, as he stepped through the vision without so much as a change in expression.

'Almost there'

The thought flickered through his mind as he fixed his gaze upon the distant peak, his pace never faltering as he pressed forward, undeterred by the obstacles that littered his path.

Suddenly, Anthony came to an abrupt halt, his senses on high alert.

A presence, unmistakable, undeniable, lingered in the air.

There, just at the heel of the mountain, a figure sat in perfect stillness, legs crossed in a lotus position, arms folded across his chest, and eyes closed in tranquil repose.

Beside him, hovering casually, was a massive hammer, as if it were nothing more than a simple extension of his being.

Then, as if sensing Anthony's presence, the figure's eyes snapped open.

"You are here"

The voice, deep and calm, reverberated in the air as the figure rose to his feet with unnerving slowness.

"I shall be your final challenge before you reach the peak. Let me see what makes you special"

The figure's hand reached out, slow and deliberate, as he touched the hammer, a heavy, ominous weapon that seemed to pulse with power in the silence.

'SSS+ rank?'

The thought hit Anthony like a wave of cold water.

Only moments ago, Anthony had been battling soldiers at the D- rank, barely breaking a sweat.

Monsters of varying C ranks had presented no real challenge, each falling before his might with ease.

But now, now, he was facing something entirely different.

A vampire soldier restricted to the SSS+ rank.

The gap in power was staggering, a chasm that seemed impossible to bridge in mere moments.

Anthony wasn't stunned by the disparity out of fear.

No, his shock stemmed from the sheer contrast in the strength he had been up against and the strength that stood before him now.

It wasn't that he lacked the confidence to defeat the vampire; it was the awareness that this battle would demand a little effort.

As these thoughts flickered through his mind, something massive and heavy crossed his vision with blinding speed.

The hammer.

It came at him like a storm, its sheer force bending the air in its wake, the weight of its momentum impossible to ignore.