BOOM!
With a thunderous crash, the nearby trees in the forest trembled slightly.
Many avian Beast Hollows were startled and fled this barren stretch of forest at top speed.
“Hah…” Jumping down from a tree, Wayne wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Though as a Hollow he shouldn’t produce a single drop of sweat, at this moment he subconsciously retained some of the mannerisms from his previous life.
“Hah…
what a pain.
Same rank of Elite Hollow, yet so much stronger than me.
Good thing I had enough traps set up.
Otherwise there’s no way I could’ve worn it down.” Beside a pitfall trap, Wayne muttered to himself with a self-deprecating laugh.
In this forest, Wayne had been hunting continuously for quite some time now.
Through constant predation, he had already advanced from high-rank ordinary Hollow to mid-rank Elite Hollow.
The opponent he had just hunted was a high-rank Elite humanoid Hollow on the verge of stepping into High Hollow territory.
Although mid-rank and high-rank were only one level apart, this monster teetering on the edge of the High Hollow stage possessed considerable intelligence.
While it could not speak, it attacked and defended with perfect control, and could even consciously evade Wayne’s traps.
Against such a troublesome opponent, Wayne ultimately had to take matters into his own hands.
After exchanging several rounds of blows, he finally managed to slash its eyes at the cost of the two Bone Blades on his right claw, robbing it of its sight.
Then, by luring it with his Reiatsu, he drew it into several traps and slowly wore it down to death.
Jumping down into the trap, Wayne tore off the already damaged Hollow Mask of that humanoid Hollow, then found a large tree, climbed up, and began to eat.
After such a long period of hunting, the speed at which Wayne absorbed Reishi had increased considerably.
“The Reiatsu from a Hollow of higher rank really is something else.” Wayne looked at his right hand with satisfaction.
Just moments ago, a massive influx of Reishi had fused into Wayne’s body.
The two broken Bone Blades on his right claw were already showing signs of regrowth, and he believed a full recovery wouldn’t take long.
Not only that, the bony layer that had previously extended only to his right arm had now begun spreading across his entire body.
What had once been armor-like skin had truly become a bony layer.
With his body as it was now, Wayne could easily withstand the sonic blast of that xenomorphic Hollow from before.
The strength of his Bone Blades had been reinforced yet again, and their length had grown considerably as well.
“Judging by the current situation, I shouldn’t be far from the elite high-rank.” Sensing the surging Reiryoku within his body, Wayne thought to himself.
“But this body size is a bit unsatisfying.” As he spoke, he looked down at himself, he had grown quite a bit taller again.
After this long stretch of hunting, Wayne’s body was now nearly three meters tall.
This was a Reiryoku expansion phenomenon caused by prolonged mass absorption, resulting in a significant increase in body size.
His strength had grown just as much, though.
He believed that with his current power, even without traps and relying on strength alone, there was nothing left in this forest capable of killing him.
All that remained for Wayne was to hunt without stop until he advanced.
Since Hueco Mundo had no concept of time, Wayne had no idea how long he had already been here, nor where the main storyline currently stood.
He only hoped that he had arrived before the main storyline began.
If he had appeared after it, then both Hueco Mundo and Soul Society would be far too dangerous.
At his current level, any character in Soul Society could cut him down without much effort.
“No, I have to raise my power quickly.” Thinking of this, Wayne felt a knot tighten in his chest.
He sat up from the branch, preparing to replenish his traps and continue hunting.
The moment he rose, an overwhelming Reiatsu bore down on him from behind, and with it came a razor-sharp claw.
His powerful perception and crisis instinct saved him once again.
The instant a chill ran through him, he threw himself forward with all his might, twisting his waist and spinning around in the same motion, sweeping his right claw behind him in a fierce arc.
The two claws collided with a metallic clang.
After parrying the blow, the attacker held its position on the branch while Wayne plummeted from the treetop.
As he fell backward, he drove his right claw into another large tree and stopped himself on the trunk, fixing his gaze hard on the enemy above.
Looking up, he saw a cheetah-form Beast Hollow.
Its entire body was encased in a bony layer, the head and limbs the hardest of all.
Its Hollow Hole was located at its lower back, and two sharp fangs jutted from its mouth.
From the attack just now, its Reiatsu was considerably higher than his own.
It had likely already advanced to the High Hollow stage.
“Hmph.
No wonder you can hold your ground in this forest — turns out you actually have some skill.” A voice dripping with contempt rang out beside Wayne’s ear, and his body gave a slight involuntary tremble.
“You can talk?” Wayne asked before he could stop himself.
“Oh?
So you’re a Hollow with Sentience too.” The cheetah Hollow was equally surprised.
“Then it’s no wonder you can hunt like that.
I’ve heard that devouring a Hollow with Sentience gives an advantage in later evolution.
I wonder if that’s actually true.” It showed no intention of backing off; if anything, it seemed even more interested in Wayne.
“Hmph — you want to devour me?
First let’s see if you have what it takes!” A cold smirk appeared at the corner of Wayne’s mouth.
He pushed off the trunk with his feet and leaped at the cheetah Hollow, right claw raised, slashing down with full force.
The cheetah Hollow sidestepped it nimbly.
“Give up, insect,” the cheetah Hollow said with contempt.
“Even with Sentience, your Reiatsu is pathetically weak and your speed is too slow.
Just obediently become my food!” As it spoke, the cheetah Hollow’s Reiatsu surged.
In an instant it was right in front of Wayne, barb-covered tail raised and lashing out viciously.
The speed was so great that Wayne had no time to react at all.
By the time Wayne moved to defend, the tail had already landed on his chest.
With a loud boom, Wayne was sent flying, crashing heavily into a large tree not far behind him before plunging toward the ground.
“The weak should be prepared to become food,” the cheetah Hollow said from on high, looking down at Wayne with undisguised disdain.
“Though I’ll admit — you’re not bad.
You actually have the strength to get up after taking one of my hits.” “Ugh…
cough, cough.” After the dust settled, Wayne struggled to his feet, his mind racing.
This was the second High Hollow he had encountered, after that totem giant Hollow last time.
Unlike that slow, heavy giant, this was a cheetah-form Beast Hollow built entirely around speed.
Escaping using the same method as before was absolutely out of the question.
But compared to that last encounter, Wayne’s current Reiatsu was strong enough that, with traps, killing this one wasn’t impossible.
So he had no intention of running.
He slowly brought his turbulent Reiatsu into its optimal state and prepared to finish things right here.
He didn’t charge in recklessly, though.
Instead, he turned and sprinted, because in the forest behind him lay a large area of his trap zone.
“Trying to run?” The cheetah Hollow had no intention of letting Wayne go.
It dropped straight from the branch and gave chase at full speed.
Due to the gap in Reiatsu, within mere seconds Wayne was caught again.
Just as the cheetah Hollow’s claw was about to rake across him, Wayne raised his right claw at the last instant and grabbed a large tree he was about to flash past.
Using the tree as a pivot, he swung around in a full circle, turning from facing away to facing forward, and drove his left fist hard into the cheetah Hollow’s face.
The cheetah Hollow’s reaction was just as fast.
Seeing the move, it immediately leaped up and dodged.
But that leap gave Wayne the time he needed to break away again, and he turned and retreated once more.
The cheetah Hollow roared and continued its pursuit.
A few seconds later, the two had covered nearly a hundred meters in their chase.
By the time it caught up to him again, they had entered a trap zone Wayne had long since prepared.
In that moment, the prey became the hunter.
Wayne turned, struggled to absorb the force of the claw swinging straight at him, and used the impact to push himself backward until he came to rest against a large tree.
The moment his back touched the trunk, he raised his hand and drove his fist into it hard.
Immediately, countless tearing sounds cut through the air as sharpened branches flew straight at the cheetah Hollow.
Those were branches Wayne had long since carved to points and rigged as traps.
Due to heavy weathering, they would do little against a High Hollow, they would barely scratch an Elite Hollow.
Wayne had set them up for one purpose only: to let the spikes kick up a cloud of dust and disrupt the enemy’s vision, and then, the real weight fell next.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Under cover of the dust, dozens of massive logs came crashing down toward the cheetah Hollow.
If the branch volley was meant only to blind it, the logs did far more than that.
Their sheer mass forced it to dodge or break through them, and the moment it made any move, it would expose an opening.
Like, right now.
As the enormous trunks came crashing down, the cheetah Hollow dodged on instinct.
The moment it leaped, it knew it had been baited, because right beside it, a Reiatsu powerful enough to wound it was closing in fast.
The dust burst apart, and the cheetah Hollow saw five Bone Blades slashing toward it.
In mid-air, it had no room to evade, but its combat experience was not to be underestimated.
It arched its waist, rotated sharply to adjust its posture, and whipped its hard tail at the incoming claws.
CLANG!
BANG!
The claws were deflected.
The cheetah Hollow assumed it was safe for the moment and prepared to leap clear on landing, but it never expected a fist already driving toward it from behind.
Tough at the head, tough at the claws, soft at the waist: a universal trait of canines and large felines.
Wayne was facing a cheetah Hollow, but a long shot was better than nothing.
Without a second thought, Wayne drove his fist into its lumbar spine.
He heard it let out a strangled whimper, and its entire body was slammed into the ground.
First blow landed.
He wanted to press the attack, but the punch had sent the cheetah Hollow into the dust cloud, and Wayne didn’t dare approach carelessly.
Even with Reiatsu to track it, losing his line of sight made him unwilling to move rashly.
He swiftly leaped back and waited for the dust to settle.
Dozens of seconds later, the smoke gradually thinned, and the cheetah Hollow had slowly climbed back to its feet.
“Lowly insect!
You dare wound me!” The cheetah Hollow went berserk, pushing its Reiatsu to the absolute limit.
Blue light flared across its front claws, and it slashed through the air at blinding speed toward Wayne’s position.
“Garra de la Pantera!” With a furious roar, six blue claw arcs charged with Reiatsu tore straight toward Wayne.
“A Reiryoku skill!” Wayne’s pupils shrank.
He broke right immediately, but the arcs were simply too fast.
He couldn’t get clear in time, and his left arm was grazed.
Blood sprayed from the wound at once, deep enough to show bone.
Reiryoku skills, techniques born from one’s own attribute and nature, mastered only by High Hollows.
Against an attack like that, dodging was the only way Wayne could stay alive.
The smoke cleared.
The cheetah Hollow stood before Wayne, breathing hard, glaring with undisguised fury, as if its eyes alone could tear him apart.
Wayne steadied his footing on the other side and prepared to take whatever came next.
His left arm was soaked in blood, but this was no time to let pain loosen his focus.
Right in front of him, the cheetah Hollow’s front claws were still glowing blue.
If Garra de la Pantera could be fired again immediately, Wayne would already be fleeing the jungle at top speed.
But though the cheetah Hollow’s claws still radiated powerful Reiatsu, Wayne could feel that its overall Reiatsu had already dropped considerably.
At most, he judged, it could use that attack one or two more times, and after that, it would be completely spent.
Wayne decided to hold his ground and keep his distance.
The moment it used Garra de la Pantera again, if Wayne dodged it, the roles of prey and hunter would flip once more.
The cheetah Hollow, however, seemed to know it was nearly running on empty.
The glow on its front claws slowly faded.
That attack had clearly taken too much out of it.
If it spent everything in a fit of rage and ended up devoured by the insect standing before it, it would be the one walking away with the bad end of the deal.
“Insect — I have to admit, with your intelligence, you’re capable.” The cheetah Hollow spoke.
“Remember my name: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.
I’ve memorized the scent of your Reiatsu.
I’ll spare your life this time.
Next time we meet, I’ll devour you so completely not even bone dust will remain!” He left the words hanging in the air, then turned and sprinted out of the forest.
Having just unleashed his full technique, his Reiatsu had dropped sharply.
If he didn’t recover quickly, he risked real damage, or worse, regression.
Watching Grimmjow go, Wayne dropped straight onto the ground.
He let out a long breath.
Then the corner of his mouth curved into a grin.
“Heh heh — hahahaha!
The leopard king, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.
In the Bleach main storyline: Aizen’s sixth Espada, an Adjuchas-class Arrancar.
And right now, he’s only just reached the High Hollow stage.
Looks like I’m still a long way from the main storyline.” Wayne’s mood lifted even further.
The timeline was now clear.
Before the plot began — at least before Aizen came to Hueco Mundo, he had to push himself as hard as he could.
Only then could he break free from Aizen’s grip.
Only then would he have any chance at a life that was truly his own.
➤ Next: An Unexpected Invitation