My Monster-Derived Skills Are the True Power
Chapter 3: Interstellar Bandit

A heavy silence enveloped the cave.

Taking down three opponents was impressive, but doing it while playing around with a severed head? What kind of twisted grudge could justify such theatrics?

“Who exactly are you?”

A middle-aged man with a long beard glanced at Li Ye and the head under his foot, his tone icy.

“Someone here to take your lives,” Li Ye responded with a sinister grin. “I wanted to talk before, but you didn’t. Now I don’t feel like talking anymore.”

Having no understanding of this world, any fabricated identity risked exposure. A more intimidating stance, however, could force them to yield first and ask questions later. In any world, the wicked often fared better than the kind.

Moreover, every time Li Ye used the badge, the demonic energy improved his body. In this unfamiliar place, power was his most pressing need. The group before him was nothing short of experience fodder.

As expected, his words infuriated them.

An older man with a scarred face roared, “We’ll see who takes whose life! Everyone, attack! There’s no need for honor against a demon sect scum. If he lives, it’s our deaths!”

The clamor of weapons surrounded Li Ye, though only three advanced to attack. The so-called martial artists were skilled but constrained by their numbers, forced into defensive positions while their comrades formed a tight blockade around him.

Blade and sword light flashed, leaving Li Ye no path of retreat.

Yet he merely smiled. Just as the weapons were about to strike him, he deftly dribbled the head underfoot, weaving left and right, slipping through the trio’s assault by a hair’s breadth.

The two attackers who tried to intercept him from the sides collided with each other as Li Ye passed between them like a phantom.

They crashed to the ground, and before they could recover, Li Ye kicked them both squarely in the face. Blood splattered as the two spun away, landing over a meter from where they had been.

The scarred elder remained standing but fared no better.

After escaping the encirclement, Li Ye flicked the rolling head with his toe, preparing for another strike. This time, though, his kick missed its mark, gliding just above the head before slamming into the elder’s crotch.

Thud!

The direct hit sent the elder howling in agony, leaping into the air before collapsing and writhing on the ground. His willow-leaf saber clattered away as he clutched his injury.

---

The spectators froze, jaws slack.

A groin kick was a dirty move but relatively easy to defend against. Old Hu’s earlier misstep could be excused as a lapse in judgment, but the elder’s failure was baffling. Li Ye’s movements weren’t particularly fast—surely he could have dodged or blocked?

As they stood there dumbfounded, Li Ye pressed the attack.

The cave still housed dozens of foes, and he had no intention of giving them the chance to regroup. Moreover, the surge of power from the demonic energy was intoxicating.

With a grin, Li Ye charged forward, dribbling the head.

Sliding tackles, elbows, sweeping kicks, bicycle strikes, and aerial moves—Li Ye executed them all with the flair of legendary soccer players like Pepe, Ramos, Costa, and Roy Keane.

Wherever he passed, people fell like dominoes, clutching their legs, faces, or groins. No one could stand against him.

In mere moments, he had broken through the crowd and reached the cave entrance.

Pausing, Li Ye resisted the urge to "score a goal" with the severed head, coming to a sharp stop instead. Spinning on his heel, he charged back into the cave.

The remaining fighters were stunned. Some, overcome with fear, fled past him toward the cave exit.

But a thunderous voice stopped them cold:

“Anyone who runs dies!”

Before the words had even faded, Li Ye flipped and performed a scissor kick. The severed head shot through the air, colliding mid-flight with the head of the furthest fleeing fighter.

Bang!

Both heads cracked on impact, one bursting open in a gruesome display as the victim crumpled to the ground.

The grisly scene froze everyone in place.

Li Ye landed lightly, rising to his feet with a casual air. “Anyone else care to run?”

Demonic energy continued to enhance his body, filling him with boundless strength and heightened senses. Even without the "ball," he felt more than capable of handling the situation. And if someone did challenge him, there were plenty of "spares" on the ground.

The cave was now filled with groans from the injured, while the unscathed survivors stared at Li Ye in abject terror.

---

“Who… who are you?” A short-bearded man finally stepped forward, his voice trembling. “We’ve no past grievances or present quarrels with you. Why did you attack us?”

“Attack you?” Li Ye sneered. “The moment I appeared, you all wanted me dead. Now that you’ve been beaten, you talk about having no quarrel? Too late.”

The man hesitated, then cautiously asked, “Young hero, you’re not with the Scarlet Flame Sect?”

Li Ye let out a cold laugh, taking the opportunity to fabricate a more intimidating identity. “I am an interstellar bandit, destroyer of countless civilizations. The Scarlet Flame Sect? They’re nothing but insects beneath me!

If not for the spatial turbulence during my jump, which left me gravely injured and operating at less than a fraction of my usual strength, I wouldn’t even need to lift a finger to crush you lot.”

While a temporal walker’s mission was to recover foreign resources and eliminate demonic energy, Li Ye’s goal was survival. Admitting to being a demon hunter would have been foolish. He would rather lay low for a year, avoiding the other corrupted entity in this world, and wait to be recalled.

Now, however, circumstances forced his hand.

---

The short-bearded man exchanged a glance with a gray-haired elder. Though skeptical of Li Ye’s boast about being at "one ten-thousandth strength," they couldn’t deny the strangeness of his fighting style and sudden appearance.

Not wanting to provoke further conflict, the short-bearded man played along. “Young hero, this may all be a misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding? The moment you attacked me, it stopped being a misunderstanding.” Li Ye’s gaze swept over the group as he nonchalantly sat on a nearby rock. “Now, a few of you better step forward and explain this planet’s civilization to me. And you—” he pointed to a random fighter—“kick my ball back here.”

The fighter hesitated but obeyed, kicking the head toward Li Ye.

To everyone’s horror, the head—which had survived countless kicks from Li Ye—splattered apart from just one strike. Blood and flesh scattered everywhere.

This gruesome display only solidified Li Ye’s dominance. The precision and power of his actions were terrifying, even to those skeptical of his story.

---

The short-bearded man’s eyes gleamed as he turned to the gray-haired elder. “Sect Master Liu, why don’t we go and enlighten this young hero together?”