(A/N: Your Dumbass Author did it again. This chapter is meant to come after the next one. I sincerely apologize. Skip this one and then come back to it.)

No Aura

A large explosion rocked the surroundings, followed by several bits of vegetation getting ripped out of the ground.

From the blast, Mike slid out of the smoke with his arms crossed, smoke wafting off his furred arms as he stared ahead with a sharp expression.

A moment later, he ducked as a thin string shot at him like a sniper bullet. It embedded itself inside a tree behind him, and before he could retreat, the spider that had released it tugged, and its body shot at him with a vengeance. Its front legs were raised and ready to strike, but instead of dodging, Mike went forward to meet it.

Sharp limbs struck against claws, and the ground shattered from the force as, surprisingly, the spider staggered.

Mike's ears twitched, and he leaned his head out of the way as another pike-like limb whizzed past his skull, stabbing into the ground.

Mike spun and raked both of his claws across the limb, drawing thick black blood.

The spider screeched, and Mike was about to follow up when the third spider shot out a glob of webs, making him back away to avoid getting caught.

The spiders immediately gave chase, and Mike just needed a moment to regain himself before he rushed back in, his ears tilted against his skull.

There was a stark difference in fighting with his wolf features compared to using his aura.

For starters, it wasn't as flexible as his aura. He couldn't use his Haven Ring or Primal Rend, so his attacking options became a bit limited.

However, that did not mean it was worse. Not at all.

The wolf-like traits he gained while in this form weren't just for show.

For instance, despite tanking multiple stabs from the spiders with his arms, he didn't take any damage. His fur was no different from a durable metal that allowed him to resist and dish out devastating attacks.

The same went for his claws. Usually, organic weapons weren't as good as weapons made using natural resources. But Mike noticed that his claws cut just as, if not better than the claws on his gauntlets.

His senses were also cranked up to 11. While he could use his aura to enhance his senses, there was something... cleaner, about his senses in this form.

It was still potent, but it was like it had less 'impurities', and he dared to say that it was even better than the senses he got from his aura.

His tail also wasn't just a decoration, as it helped him with his balance to an incredible degree. With it, he could move in ways he couldn't before and perform movements that had a strict balance requirement, which he struggled to achieve before.

Compared to his aura, there was something... raw, about this form. More natural.

It was also at this moment that he realized the difference between real life and Fighter's.Inc. Sure, he'd been using his Partial Transformation on the platform to get better at it, but compared to real battles, the controlled environment paled in comparison.

Dust and rocks were thrown off as the spiders kept trying to impale him with their limbs, but Mike moved like a cockroach, weaving between their attacks almost effortlessly without getting hit.

His senses allowed him to pick up even the smallest movements they made, and coupled with his passives made specifically to let him anticipate and counter attacks, they truly had no way of hitting him.

That said, the spiders weren't exactly pushovers, either.

Mike leapt away as several sharp strings appeared around him and tried to shred him apart, and he narrowed his eyes as he hooked his calls on the side of a tree before jumping away, the entire thing getting sliced in half from another sharp web.

'They have two types of webs. One that's incredibly sticky and difficult to remove, but also unnaturally heavy, and another that's extremely thin and sharp.' He noted as he continued to jump around, avoiding a barrage of sticky webs.

The sticky webs were easy enough to see and avoid, but the thin threads were almost invisible to the naked eye, and coupled with the relative darkness of the chasm, perceiving them was nearly impossible.

Well, nearly impossible for people who weren't Mike.

With his senses, not only could he tell when the spiders wanted to release a specific type of thread due to the sounds their bodies made, but he could also see the thin threads moving through the air as they came towards him. Moreover, even if he couldn't, he could hear as they displaced the air whenever they moved towards him. A sharp whistling noise that was hard to miss with his hearing.

'Individually, none of them is stronger than the Boa, but they could probably kill it if they jumped it.' Mike noted as another tree was sliced in half in his wake. But this time, he grabbed the trunk before it could hit the ground, and he swung it at one of the spiders, which leaped at him like a baseball bat.

The thing was swatted into a nearby wall, shattering it, and Mike threw the tree at the other two, but they evaded it fairly easily.

However, Mike was already dashing towards the spider he had smacked away. The thing was still struggling to remove itself from the wall.

It screeched and released a glob of thick web to slow him down, but shockingly, Mike just sliced through it with his claws. The scene stunned the spider.

He'd been dodging all this time, so surely, it meant that he couldn't interact with those webs easily, right? Why was he suddenly slicing through them like they were butter?

This moment of shock proved to be detrimental.

Mike pulled back his fists and then unleashed a devastating barrage of attacks that swiftly broke through the spider's carapace and caused blood to spill.

The other spiders tried to help their companion, but by the time they arrived, all that awaited them was a broken and battered corpse and a small figure covered in its blood.

He stared at the body for a moment before looking back at the spiders, his expression cold.

"Next."

***

"Phew." Mike exhaled as he sat down on a nearby rock, the corpses of the three spiders piled up messily in front of him.

He stared at his clawed arms for a moment before nodding.

'No flashy aura abilities or elaborate techniques, just raw, unfiltered power.' He mused as he thought back to the fight.

It had been a bit difficult to fight against three opponents who wanted to kill him at first, but he quickly got the hang of it as he managed to dispatch the other two soon enough.

To be clear, though, there was nothing wrong with his aura. His usage was fine. Perhaps even efficient, but there was something different about this. Using his claws, sharp senses, and instincts without the hum of energy beneath his skin felt... purer, in a way. Like peeling away the human layers and letting the raw part of him, his wolf side, which didn't need structure or control, take reins.

If his aura was strength shaped by his reason, then his Partial Transformation was strength borne from his instincts.

And somehow, that felt more honest.

He exhaled and stood up.

Normally, people would rest after such an intense battle, but not Mike. Not only was his stamina and energy regeneration simply obscene, but the act of exerting himself like this was almost cathartic in a way.

He felt refreshed, as having to constantly suppress his wolf side was a slow, but steady burden on his psyche, and actions like this where he could express that side more freely was like releasing pent-up stress within him.

So instead of feeling tired, he felt invigorated.

He approached the corpses, ready to use Hunter's Banquet to gain some more stats, but he paused midway, and his face darkened as he growled.

While he couldn't see them, he could feel numerous hungry gazes lurking in the shadows, looking at him... no. They were looking at his prize.

The idea of his prey getting stolen stirred up something within him, and without hesitation, he activated Primal Dread.

Instantly, an imposing aura of a predator washed over the surroundings, and like a flip had switched, Mike felt all the gazes move away as the scavengers scurried away.

He snorted.

Somehow, he knew that they believed he would be tired after the fight, so they planned to pounce on him the moment he dropped his guard. However, that was far from the truth.

Moreover, they were obviously at the bottom of the barrel if a small show of intimidation like that could scare them off.

Mike shook his head and decided not to pay them any heed. They were too weak to warrant his efforts, so unless they provoked him, he would leave them alone.

He stared at his meal grinned, revealing his sharp canines. And then, he dug in.

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