As Dora shot at him like lightning, Riku's eyes narrowed, shifting to the side in a flash to dodge the attack.
Dora's punch hit nothing but air, but the shockwave alone made Riku's scalp tingle.
If that landed, I'd be nothing but a blood mist.
"ROAAAR!" Dora, frustrated by the miss, glared at Riku and, unbelievably, stepped on air to dash sideways, charging again.
This was pure physical insanity—something that should have broken the laws of physics. If Newton saw this, he'd be rolling in his grave...
CLANG!
In that crucial moment, Riku focused his spirit energy and created a shield.
Dora appeared before him in an instant and slammed his fist into the shield. With a thunderous bang, Riku was blasted backward, but with his current power, Dora still couldn't break through.
"How long do you think you can last, human?!" Dora bellowed, face twisted in rage as he once again kicked off the air, attacking Riku with the frenzy of a wild beast.
Fighting a werebeast using Blood Destruction was a nightmare—their strength and speed were off the charts. They were nearly untouchable, and if you got hit, you'd die on the spot.
Of course, this wasn't an issue for a Flugel, who could just nuke everything.
But Riku needed to hold back if he wanted to claim the fruit later.
"He's done for!"
"I don't know why this human is so strong, but against Blood Destruction, he doesn't stand a chance!"
"Captain Dora is one of the top werebeasts. He'll crush that human in no time!"
The surviving werebeasts bared their fangs, sure of Riku's defeat.
Whatever. Time to use this.
While dodging and tanking Dora's attacks, Riku focused, forming a bow and the Caladbolg II Archer's spiral arrow.
He nocked the Caladbolg II to the bowstring.
"Hah! You think you can hit me with a toy like that? Don't kid yourself!" Dora roared, pouring even more force into his blows.
CRACK!
With another shattering sound, Riku's spirit shield was covered in spiderweb cracks. Dora's smile grew savage.
Just one more hit, and the shell would break.
But before Dora could attack again, Riku's body suddenly shimmered with violet light—and he disappeared!
Where did he go? Crap! Dora's beast instincts screamed, and he whirled around.
SHUNK!
Too late. Caladbolg II pierced Dora's chest at point-blank range, tearing through his defences and spraying blood everywhere.
"Gah—!" Dora stared at the hole in his chest, disbelief and agony written all over his face.
"Damn you!" Wounded beasts are always the most dangerous. Dora swung his massive claw behind him, desperate for revenge.
But Riku blinked away, face unreadable, easily dodging the attack.
"Spatial teleportation... you even have powers like that..." Dora muttered, a broken smile on his lips, before coughing blood and collapsing.
He'd never imagined he'd be toyed with by a human.
"You really thought I was just running and defending for no reason?" Riku said coldly, looking down at Dora's corpse.
Shambhala could only teleport to preset coordinates—all of this had been Riku's plan from the start.
This so-called 'elite' had been doomed from the very beginning.
As Dora's body fell, Riku used Skystride to blur to his side and yank off the bag at his waist, tossing it into his storage.
"Captain Dora!"
The remaining werebeasts finally realized what happened, faces twisted with disbelief.
Their leader—the strongest among them, a master of Blood Destruction—had been killed.
"You damn human! We'll tear you apart!"
The last four werebeasts went berserk, leaping at Riku with all the ferocity their bodies could muster.
But without Blood Destruction, they were just targets driven by hatred, not reason.
The only ones still alive at this point were the stronger werebeasts in the group, but they'd all lost their minds to rage. Without the ability to maneuver in the air, they were easy pickings for Riku he took them out like chickens.
"I was planning to go to the werebeast capital anyway, but I guess I got a preview. Now I know what the average werebeast can do," Riku said, glancing over the bodies scattered across the mountaintop. He let out a slow breath.
Regular werebeast soldiers were within his expectations—about as strong as low-tier Demonia. The elite ones were trickier, but still beatable for Riku now.
But those like Dora, who could use Blood Destruction, were on another level entirely. It took real strategy to bring them down.
Breaking the limits of the physical body really was insanely powerful.
That meant, when heading to the werebeast homeland, Riku would have to watch out for any of their Blood Destruction elites.
And most of all, the princess Dora mentioned. She'd already consumed seven of those strange red fruits, apparently putting her on par with the Flugel. Definitely not someone to take lightly.
After that, Riku recycled all the werebeast corpses on the mountaintop.
Fifteen in total. The regular ones netted him 100 exchange points each. The tougher ones were worth 200. As for Dora, he was a whopping 1,000 points—no comparison.
Altogether, Riku got 2,800 points, plus another 200 for two Demonia from earlier. He was back up to 3,000 exchange points.
"Figures, killing is the quickest way to get rich. System, are you encouraging me to go on a rampage or something?" Riku grumbled.
The system, as always, said nothing.
"Geez, not even a peep. Some people get cute loli AI or goddess-type systems. I just get a dumb hunk of junk," Riku sighed.
He then took out Dora's backpack from his storage.
[Ding! Cylene Crystals detected. Value: 3,000 exchange points. Recycle?]
[Ding! Blood Essence Fruit detected. Value: 10,000 exchange points. Recycle?]
This time, the system finally chimed in, giving two prompts at once.
Hearing that, Riku's eyes sparkled, and a big grin spread across his face.
'Robbery really is the path to riches. This single fruit is worth 10,000 exchange points—way more than a Dwarf battleship!'
Even an abandoned Dwarf warship was only worth 5,000.
"So, these are Cylene Crystals? What are they for?" Riku asked, opening the bag and seeing several blueish stones inside.
[Cylene Crystals are rare materials for constructing large-scale energy cannons and defensive barriers]
"Eh, not much use for me. Recycle them," Riku said, waving his hand dismissively.
[Ding! Recycle successful. You have received 3,000 exchange points.]
"And what about the Blood Essence Fruit? Is it any good for me?" Riku continued. He knew the basics, but wanted to be sure before deciding to eat it or cash it in.
[The Blood Essence Fruit is a special fruit compatible with werebeast bloodlines. It enhances their physical attributes and bloodline powers, letting them use Blood Destruction with no side effects.]
[It's also useful for the host. System analysis indicates that if the host eats the fruit, their physical abilities will also surpass the normal limits of the human body.]
"So it really is a power-up. Guess that 10,000-point value isn't an exaggeration," Riku said, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
He'd already seen how strong breaking the physical limit was. If he could do the same, he'd have no weaknesses left.
That thought made Riku a little uneasy—if the werebeast princess was that strong just by default, she'd be a monster even among her own kind.
"Smells kind of like apples…" Still, Riku wasn't one to hesitate. He calmly took the Blood Essence Fruit and ate it, even commenting on the taste.
A second later, he felt awful. It was as if a fire had ignited inside him, heat flooding his entire body.
Even his skin started to ooze out filth, as if the fruit was purging impurities from his body.
The smell was so bad, Riku almost passed out from his enhanced senses. He immediately used Shambhala to teleport to one of his marked locations.
That happened to be by a big river.
Without hesitation, he stripped and dove in, scrubbing himself clean. The burning feeling gradually faded, though he swore the river nearly started to steam.
After a while, the heat faded, replaced by a sense of overwhelming strength.