Michael's instincts scread. He could dodge-but no, even if he twisted away, the serpent's range was too wide, its strike too precise. Michael braced himself. His jaw clenched as he poured mana inward, forcing it into his limbs, his skin, his very bones. The air around him shivered as his flesh hardened like steel, the reinforcents of {Iron Skin} digging deep into his marrow.
He crossed his arms over his chest.
Boom!
The serpent's body slamd into Michael. The shockwave blasted through the air, splintering trees below and kicking up a storm of dust and shattered stone.
Michael grunted, his arms trembling from the impact, but he held. His body didn't fold. His flesh didn't tear. Instead, a faint crack split across one of the serpent's gleaming scales.
The beast recoiled with a violent hiss, its massive body twisting back in shock.
"What...?"
The lion's burning mane flared brighter, its molten eyes narrowing. The crystalline raptor above tilted its head, its gaze sharp as blades. All three of them had expected this "fruit" to resist. But to withstand a direct strike from the serpent-whose physical strength was the greatest among them-and to even damage it? That was unthinkable. The serpent coiled tighter, erald light rippling along its body as it stared at the faint crack marring its scale. This human had actually forced it back in raw strength alone.
How strong was this "fruit"?
Michael lowered his arms, his chest rising and falling as he steadied
himself. His forearms throbbed from the blow, but he was still standing. Still glaring back.
He could see it in their eyes now. Their earlier disdain had shifted. The contempt they held monts ago had hardened into sothing heavier.
However, this didn't make him happy in the slightest.
From the conversation of the three, he could already tell what their purpose was-and as Rank 3 creatures, physical strength might be the least of their true power.
While Michael's mind raced, weighing what he could do to turn the situation around and secretly scouting for any possible escape route from the encirclent, the monsters gave him no room to breathe. They struck again, rcilessly.
The first to lash out was once more the serpent. But this ti, to Michael's horror, the attack wasn't just physical. The serpent had unleashed its Law.
A shiver ran down his spine.
Instinct roared in him, and almost without thought, Michael conjured a mana shield in front of himself, bracing just as the strike ca crashing down.
A hiss split the air. Sothing spewed from the serpent's fangs.
The torrent smashed into Michael's hastily raised mana shield. Szzzzzzt!
The barrier scread as its surface lted away, chunks of shimring energy collapsing like ice tossed into acid.
Michael's eyes widened. If not for the purity of his mana after evolution-and that strange, instinctive reasoning that had urged him to tweak the shield mid-casting-the barrier would have shattered on
impact.
Pre-evolution, it would not have lasted three heartbeats.
Even so, fissures spiderwebbed across the construct. His shield was being eaten alive.
Michael grit his teeth, sweat beading on his brow. L
This Law felt a bit too familiar too
Michael thought of Lucky, whose flas burned with venomous fire.
The serpent's Law wasn't exactly the sa, but the resemblance was enough to chill him.
If this was anything like Lucky's Law, then Michael's body wasn't the only thing at risk.
The shield groaned, buckling further. His instincts scread louder.
"Damn it..." Michael muttered, reinforcing the weave with another flood of purer mana, forcing the construct to hold even as the venom gnawed holes through it.
The serpent's eyes glead with cruel light, erald light dancing across its scale.
Unfortunately for the "fruit," it wasn't the only one hunting.
Before Michael could steady himself, the lion moved. Its mane flared, every strand igniting into burning spears of molten gold. With a guttural roar, the beast hurled them down like a storm of divine
javelins.
The air shrieked as the spears fell, each one carrying not just heat but the weight of the lion's Law.
Michael's stomach dropped. His shield was already buckling against the serpent's venom, and now this...
Boom!
The first spear slamd into the corroding barrier. The weakened construct shattered like glass, venom and fla colliding in a blast
that lit the night sky white.
Michael's arms crossed instinctively, mana flooding into his skin and bones as he layered {Iron Skin} deeper than ever before.
Crash!
The second spear struck him squarely, detonating into a torrent of searing light. His body jolted midair, pain roaring through his arms
and chest, but he didn't crumple.
The lion's molten eyes narrowed.
"What kind of human...?" the lion muttered.
The serpent's gaze sharpened, the crack in its scale aching as it recalled the earlier clash.
The serpent's Law as Michael had seen it, was venomous in nature. It was pure and unadulterated poison. There was no subtlety, no intricate weave of elents, just the direct amplification of what its body already possessed.
This was the common shape of monster Laws. Unlike intelligent races, beasts did not abandon their bodies in pursuit of technique or abstraction. To them, the body was the foundation of survival. Their claws, fangs, scales, and venom were already weapons honed by nature, and when such traits deepened into Law, they retained their raw, primal simplicity. It was not weakness-it was focus. And in that focus lay a terrible edge.
For other intelligent races, except for those steadfast in physical prowess, even those who started with this path ended up abandoning their body to a certain extent.
The lion's Law followed the sa path as the serpent. Its law was not a complex or extraordinary Law, but its sheer intensity made it lethal. Against such heat, even those of equal rank would hesitate to take a direct hit.
Compared to the serpent's corrosion and the lion's solar fire, both
were straightforward, yet all the more dangerous because of it. Yet, this human seed to be doing just.....fine?
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