SSS Cultivation: I Can Conquer Earth's Rank System
Chapter 68: Grave Danger

Chapter 68: Grave Danger

Jade pushed him gently to the center of the hall, cheering him on so he wouldn’t lose courage. There was no courage in him to begin with, and he knew Jade only wanted to watch for some fun.

A while later, Leo was standing face to face with Amanda—with her grey hair and beautiful face. She was still smiling, this time a sinister one. Then a quick wink, before the transformation began.

"Wish you luck, big fella," she said.

"Another bet?" Jade asked Rosa. "100CP he gets hit seven times."

"You’re just trying to get your Credits back," Rosa replied.

"Coward."

The room was filled again with the fierce aura of the winged lizard as soon as the transformation ended. Standing in front of it now, Leo could see that it was way bigger than he had thought. About six Komodo dragons would fit into this. Its scale and limbs looked more like a crocodile’s than an actual lizard’s. Then something clicked in his head about surviving a crocodile attack... They don’t know how to turn well.

"I wish it helps."

"START!" That was Rosa.

"C’mon boy. Just seven hits and I’ll be satisfied."

"I never wasn’t going to satisfy you."

As a signature move, the lizard gave a shrill cry and bobbed its head rigorously while staring those deep, dangerous yellow eyes at Leo.

"They don’t know how to turn well..."

Then, the attack began. The lizard lunged forward with its mouth wide open like it was going to take Leo’s head off in one bite.

"Swerve to the right... Turn to the right... Turn sharply, they don’t turn well," that was what was going on in his mind. But instead of turning to his right like he was planning, fear took over him and he turned the other way to run. The lizard followed fiercely.

Leo heard a very loud laugh from someone—most definitely from Jade. It seemed Leo was already satisfying him.

"I told you never to turn your back to her!" Rosa yelled at Leo.

"Don’t tell him anything, girl. You’re breaking the rules," Jade warned Rosa.

"That’s right. Never turn your back... Never turn your back, you fool!"

At this point, it was only right for him to stop running and face the monster again. But when he looked back to see how close the lizard was, he couldn’t believe it. This lizard sure knew how to run—and silently at that. He never heard any sound indicating it was after him. The lizard was right behind him, its forelimbs up, standing erect like something just learning how to stand on its own. Its mouth was wide open, its yellow eyes looked down on Leo. It came down.

Leo only had that time to act instinctively since he couldn’t outrun this attack any longer. He bent his right knee, fell, and rolled away to his right side to escape the hammer attack coming from above him.

Did it work?

The lizard tore down massively—a strike that was enough to bash him in. Leo moved out of the way but was a little slower than necessary to evade the attack completely.

The sharp claws of the winged lizard dug deep into his left shoulder, tearing off a bit of flesh and drawing blood.

Leo yelled in pain. But he couldn’t yell for long.

The lizard was attacking again.

Leo heard a soft "ding" in his head again. A ding similar to the one he had heard this morning during combat class while training alone. He had thought that sound only accompanied his mind communication with Loca, but this time it had been sounding more repeatedly than he could explain. For one thing, he knew he wasn’t imagining it—not in this situation.

<Loca?> He reached out, just to make sure. Of course, again, it was not Loca.

That made it six notification sounds in total just for today.

"Yes! That’s a good one, lizard boy! Six more to go!" Jade yelled.

Rosa was fuming. "I told him, didn’t I? Never turn your back. He never listens, does he?"

Jade was smiling. "Even if he didn’t turn his back, his reflexes are poor compared to yours, so he’d still end up getting those hits, aha."

"Be calm. Be calm," Leo told himself. "Just a few more minutes and you’re done. Just survive long enough."

The lizard approached him slowly and with more focus. Leo now saw why Rosa told him not to turn away. Eye contact with the lizard kept it wary of its prey, so it attacked with a little doubt. But as soon as their back was turned, it became a hunt, and the lizard attacked ferociously.

Leo matched each of the lizard’s forward steps with his own careful backward steps. He just hoped there wasn’t a wall behind him.

Suddenly, the lizard turned sharply sideways and swept its massive tail in Leo’s direction. He didn’t see that coming either. And here he was thinking this lizard couldn’t turn very well.

It was only right for him to jump. He did—a high jump—but still not enough to pull off a clean dodge. He was just too slow for the lizard.

He felt the soft tail of the lizard sweep him off balance mid-air. But the lizard wasn’t done. As Leo was about to hit the ground, the tail came swinging back, knocking him far away from where he was supposed to land. It was a double blow.

Leo crashed awkwardly, and his body slid across the floor before hitting the wall. For a second, there was no air in his lungs.

"Three hits, boy!" Jade yelled again. "Four more."

"Stop that, Jade," Rosa shouted.

There was another soft sound in his head again.

"Oh, a ding for each hit, is that how it is? Should I get hit repeatedly so I can create music now?"

The sound in his head was now getting on his nerves. If it wasn’t connecting him to Loca or helping him in this situation, why did it keep coming?

He was still sprawled on the floor, waiting to catch his breath. His sense of urgency had completely left him. Never did he forget that there was an angry lizard coming his way right now, but he would do anything not to stand up now. As a matter of fact, he wanted to sleep right here.

"And this was supposed to be an E-rank beast?!"

The blood from his left shoulder was now soaking his clothes.

"Is the timer not freaking over?!"

The lizard was just a few steps away. Leo wondered if it would eat him if he decided not to move again, like he was dead. Was Amanda’s mind really not in control of this beast?

Then that nasty idea popped into his mind again. He really needed to play it out this time. This was the perfect opportunity to do that. He didn’t care if there were others here. They had their secrets—why should his matter much to them?

"A grave danger," he thought. "Was that not how it happened before?"

He had fought back these thoughts this morning—he couldn’t do that again. This was the only chance to prove it true, if it really was true.

Here it is... As he thought: if his secret quirk suddenly appeared to save his life when he was on Earth 78 years ago—because he was in grave danger that would’ve claimed his life—and he really needed to recover this quirk again... then he had to put himself into a situation where he was about to die so the quirk could come save him again. But this time, the quirk would stay, because he wouldn’t go into a coma like the last time it saved him.

So yes, he had decided. Nothing was going to change that.

"Come over, you damn lizard."

"Come unlock my quirk, Amanda."

"I’ve waited long enough."

"Get it over with."

"Bring it on, you freaking bastard lizard!" Leo yelled, to the surprise of Jade and Rosa. The situation here wasn’t supposed to make him yell that way—because, for one, he wasn’t on his feet yet. How was he going to survive the lizard’s attacks if he wasn’t even standing?

The lizard was now over him, yet he didn’t get up. Instead, he punched the lizard weakly on its snout just to infuriate it.

Now infuriated, the lizard shook its head and gave one of its most shrill cries before grabbing Leo by his left leg.

"I hope this works."

With a swift motion of its head, the lizard sent Leo flying high up into the air like a piece of balled-up paper. And it waited patiently below for him to come back down so it could finish him off with its clean knockout move.

Leo saw the ground move away from him at an alarming speed. If the ceiling here wasn’t high enough, he would’ve crashed into it. He flew up fast, but his return journey was faster. He fell freely to the ground. The lizard was ready for him, waiting for him to reach the perfect height before smashing him into the wall as a final blow.

Leo felt something.

"It’s really happening?"

He heard a loud bang...