Two figures collided midair with a thunderous impact.
Lyle descended like a living teor, his form gleaming with montum and magic. His passive buffs Aura of Courage and Weapon Specialization amplified the force of his strike, nearly tripling its destructive power.
BOOM!
The blast echoed through the forest, a shockwave radiating out from the point of impact. The trees nearby, their trunks twisted and grotesquely deford by magic, shook violently. Thick branches and leafy canopies were ripped away in an instant, shredded by the sheer force. What was once lush and dense turned into a bald patch of woodland chaos.
A sharp shriek pierced the air.
The self-proclaid Wise King of the Forest, Hamsuke, reeled from the blow. His scythe-like foreclaws, ant to tear through steel, had instead been crushed against his own armored chest under the pressure of Lyle's strike.
Thud-thud-thud—
The rotund, ovoid body of the great beast was flung backward like an overinflated fur-ball. He smashed through dozens of trees, snapping trunks and toppling bark like they were matchsticks, before finally skidding to a halt in a shower of dirt and splinters.
"YOU WRETCHED, MUSCLE-DRUNK FLESHLING!" Hamsuke roared, wheezing as he staggered upright. His body trembled with outrage. Bits of bark and broken twigs clung to his fur, his glittering eyes locked onto Lyle with enough fury to cook a man alive. "Where in the na of sacred verminhood did you get that strength?!"
Hovering in the air above, Lyle held his massive enchanted greatsword with quiet focus. His eyes narrowed.
That hit should have torn sothing open. But the furred monstrosity looked... fine. Barely scratched.
Seriously? Not even a bruise?
He clenched his jaw.
Even the dual-handed greatsword conjured through Greater Item Creation, a seventh-tier magic of incredible potency—had failed to tear through Hamsuke's defense in the past. This creature was more tank than beast.
"You managed to knock back," Hamsuke huffed with exaggerated theater, cheeks puffing indignantly. "Clearly, you've employed so sort of underhanded trick! But don't get ahead of yourself, human. I shall personally savor your flavor."
Before Lyle could shoot back a retort—
Whoosh!
A blur surged forward from behind Hamsuke, bursting from his shadow with incredible speed.
"—Tch!"
Instincts scread.
A black-gray tail, thick as a battering ram and covered in overlapping scales, slamd toward Lyle with bone-shattering force.
WHAM!
Lyle barely managed to intercept with his magic greatsword. The impact numbed his arms, reverberating up his shoulders like a gong.
With a strained grunt, he twisted the blade, redirecting the tail's montum to the side. He surged forward—
Only to co to a sudden halt.
SWOOSH!
Danger.
The tail, previously flung away, bent midair like a snake, whipping back toward his flank in a precise arc.
CLANG!
Steel t scale once more—but this ti, the tail wasn't just trying to bludgeon him.
It coiled.
The prehensile tail wrapped tightly around his sword like a constrictor, and with a powerful jerk, it yanked downward.
Caught off-balance from the earlier dodge, Lyle's footing faltered. He pitched forward, pulled toward the beast like a puppet on a string.
Snap-snap-snap—
With a disturbing rustle, the layered scales along Hamsuke's tail snapped open, standing up like razor blades. Each scale transford into a miniature dagger, deadly sharp and glinting with nace.
"Instant Reflex!"
A burst of blue light shimred over Lyle's body. His posture snapped upright, forcibly breaking the imbalance. He landed with feet braced and vision locked.
Without hesitation, he gripped his sword with both hands and brought it down like an executioner.
SCREEEEEECH!
Steel screeched against jagged scales. Sparks exploded from the impact, filling the air with light and heat.
The tail abruptly recoiled, unwinding like a spring uncoiling from a trap.
BOOM!
A gust of displaced wind thundered down from above.
Hamsuke had leapt—his bulky form hurling through the air with shocking agility, crossing more than ten ters in a single bound. He lood directly above Lyle.
"BLINDNESS!"
A shriek. A flash. A glowing glyph pulsed over the beast's underbelly.
"Crap—!"
Lyle's world dimd.
A veil of darkness covered his eyes. Not illusion. Not charm. A real status effect.
He cursed inwardly. His Undying Will, that defended against ntal manipulation—was useless here.
But—
His status panel flared. A passive aura, Divine Body, activated. It didn't negate the affliction—but it halved its severity.
Total blindness beca partial. His vision blurred, like peering through foggy glass. Shapes were vague. Motion, delayed.
Still, better than nothing.
A massive crunch overhead warned him of the descending strike. No ti to dodge cleanly.
"Unholy Shock Shield!"
BOOOOOM!
A ring of black energy erupted from his body like a thunderclap, expanding in every direction.
The airborne Hamsuke was caught mid-descent, blasted backward in a puff of fur and rage.
SMASH!
He crashed through another grove, coughing blood as he slamd into the earth, snapping branches and dislodging nests.
Lyle didn't waste a second.
"Flight."
With a single word, he soared upward, slipping into the sky like a ghost on wings of magic.
Hamsuke, panting and battered, scrambled to his paws. Blood stained his whiskers.
"YOU COWARDLY SKY-RAT!" he bellowed, eyes blazing with frustration. "GET BACK DOWN HERE!!"
Lyle floated just out of reach, arms crossed, quietly ignoring the tirade. The air around him shimred with residual power.
He waited.
One minute passed. Two. Five.
The blindness effect faded.
His vision returned like sunrise through mist.
He looked down.
Their eyes t—his cold and calculating, Hamsuke's glowing red with fury.
Then—
"Die."
Lyle dove.
Faster than before.
His robes flared like wings as he streaked through the sky, blade gleaming in the sunlight.
"DOWN WITH YOU!!"
Hamsuke howled, rising on his hind legs. He flexed his claws, black and wicked. His body tensed. That damned tail coiled again—ready to strike.
A perfect pincer.
Claws from below. Tail from above.
It was the exact sa attack from before.
But this ti—Lyle smirked.
"Recognize this move?" he said softly. "You should. I wanted you to."
"Dark Wave."
ZAAAP!
A beam of cursed energy, dark and malicious, erupted from Lyle's outstretched hand. It slamd into Hamsuke's chest, sending a ripple of black lightning across his fur.
Tail and claws froze mid-motion.
Every muscle in the creature's body seized up, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Arrogance will kill you," Lyle muttered.
His enchanted greatsword disappeared, replaced with a simple iron blade.
He raised it—its dull edge glowing with mana.
"Fourfold Slash: Breakthrough!"
Four shimring arcs of swordlight ford in the air around him—then collapsed into a single point of pure destruction, aid straight at the creature's eye.
Unlike regular flurries, this move compressed four separate slashes into one brutal thrust. Lyle had learned it through careful study of high-speed combatants—like Gagaran from Blue Rose, who once unleashed a 15-strike combo in the ti it took soone to blink.
This was Lyle's version—less storm, more spear.
SSSHNK!
The blade scread through the air, tearing at the fabric of reality—
CRACK!
Hamsuke's eyelid shredded like wet paper.
The steel pierced straight through the exposed eye. Fluid burst out like a geyser of gore.
"AAAAAAAGHHH!!"
A shriek tore through the forest, echoing for miles.
Lyle twisted the blade, preparing to end it—
But agony brought movent.
Hamsuke's body spasd. With a desperate, primal twist, he hurled Lyle's sword away and stumbled backward.
Bleeding and half-blind, the beast turned and fled, crashing through the undergrowth like a furry hurricane.
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