CHAPTER 203: EX 203. GOD OF THUNDER

Although the bear wanted to ignore the creature, something deep in its marrow stirred. An instinct, primal and unrelenting, screamed at it. Danger. Not from what it sensed, but from what lurked behind the quiet. A warning so sharp it bordered on pain. The bear, driven more by its survival instinct than reason, turned its massive head toward the source. Its paws dug into the earth as it began to move, nostrils flaring, following that tiny spark that its instincts refused to let go.

And there, standing casually in its path, was the small creature. Two-legged. Upright. With eyes far too calm.

Leon.

He met the bear’s gaze without flinching, one hand resting calmly on the trunk of the tree on which he stood. The bears lips curled.

’So you were the one making all that noise in my senses...’

After the bear had that thought, it attacked Leon, who inturn retaliated. This led to their current situation.

****

Leon stood topless on the wide plains of Pandora, his sword gripped in one hand, hair spilling loose around his face. The wind that swirled from the mounting clash tugged it back, but he barely noticed. His focus was absolute. His stance lowered, weight shifted perfectly into balance, blade poised for the strike.

Across from him, the massive bear crouched low, its fur bristling as it pressed into a beastial stance of its own. Its glowing eyes were locked on Leon with a wary sharpness. This was no longer the arrogance of a predator. It had already tasted the danger of underestimating this human.

For a long breath, neither moved.

Then Leon vanished.

The bear’s pupils shrank as his figure reappeared directly in front of its face, a blur too fast for its eyes to follow. Its great size suddenly meant nothing against that speed. Leon’s sword, wrapped in a coating of raw force, came down in a clean, merciless arc.

A deep, ringing thud cracked the air, steel meeting resistance. The blade had struck not flesh, but a glowing barrier that rippled across the bear’s hide.

Leon’s expression didn’t waver. Mid-swing, he shifted, body flowing into another form. His hand snapped back and his boot pressed against the very shield that had stopped him. With a sharp push, he launched himself skyward, twisting free of the bear’s looming presence.

The beast rumbled, lips curling into something close to a snarl. To it, Leon looked exposed, suspended in midair with no footing, nowhere to dodge. A perfect target. The bear opened its maw wide, energy building in its throat before it unleashed a thunderous blast straight at him.

But Leon had baited it perfectly. He needed distance. He needed the sky.

Blade raised above his head, he drew it down in a savage vertical slash.

"Horizon Cleave."

The force surged from his sword, a shining arc of power that carved through the beast’s blast like paper, scattering the attack into fragments of fading light. The wave didn’t stop there. It smashed into the bear’s barrier with crushing momentum, shattering it in an instant.

The bear froze, eyes wide and panicked. For the first time, escape flashed through its mind. But it was already too late.

As lightning crackled across Leon’s body, crawling over his skin like living chains of energy. His voice was quiet, but it carried a divine weight.

"Extreme Art... God of Thunder."

The heavens answered.

A storm’s roar split the sky as Leon descended in a streak of divine thunder, his form blazing white and violet. The strike landed before the bear could even turn to flee. Lightning carved deep into its massive neck, searing straight through. Sparks trailed down its hulking frame, burning the wound shut before a drop of blood could fall.

The beast’s body collapsed with a final, earth-shaking thud. Silence followed, broken only by the fading hiss of lightning on the air.

Leon stood beside the fallen giant, his breathing calm, his gaze steady. With a single motion, he dismissed his sword into his inventory.

The battle was already over.

****

Leon had gotten the skill orb from the young yellow rabbit. God of Thunder, it was a beastial skill he had gotten, after it was torn and reshaped by his Extreme Art.

As for now the massive body of the bear lay still before him, no longer the so-called ruler of this region but just flesh and bone. Leon exhaled, stepping closer, the enormity of the creature striking him only after its death.

"...Big bastard," he muttered, lips curling in a half-smile. "Hope you’ve got a core."

He knelt beside it, hands working with practiced impatience as he tore through thick hide and muscle. It didn’t take long before his fingers brushed against a smooth, faintly glowing orb. Slightly larger than the rabbit’s core, though at a glance, they looked nearly the same.

"That’s what I wanted." He lifted it, the faint shimmer reflecting in his blue eyes. Then, with a steady breath, he crushed it in his palm. Stardust poured out, flooding into his skull like liquid fire.

This time there was, no resistance. As the stream slipped past his mental barrier unhindered, and Leon, sharp from his last ordeal, immediately triggered Extreme Art. The foreign beast’s instinct splintered, broke down, and reformed, refining into something usable.

Soon after a message etched itself across his mind:

[King of Force]

Leon’s brows lifted.

"Has a nice ring to it."

He glanced at the tab under Extreme Art, letting the name linger. His theory was right. The orbs hadn’t stopped giving him new skills, it was only species-specific cores that had a limit. Everything else was still fair game.

By then, the last slivers of daylight had vanished. Darkness stretched over Pandora, heavy and long, as if the night meant to rival the day. Leon looked around, then back at the hulking corpse.

"This big fella must’ve had a den," he said, rolling his shoulders. "Doubt he’ll mind if I crash there."

With a flick of thought, the bear’s enormous body vanished into his inventory. His aura flexed under the weight, but it held steady. Tracing the broken earth and claw-marks along the ground, Leon began to follow the trail back to where the self-proclaimed king of this land had made its home.