Chapter 148: Fierce Battle
Ryan moved.
Wind and lightning burst beneath his feet at the sa ti, green wind and violet electricity weaving together into a streak of light that hurled him five ters off at an angle. A sharp tearing sound split the air behind him. The creature’s claws swept through the spot where he had just been standing, the tips ripping through the air with a shrill whistle.
A tree so thick that three n could barely encircle it was struck head-on. The trunk snapped clean through at the waist. Its upper half ca crashing down, branches shuddering wildly as it slamd into the ground.
Ryan landed without pausing.
The instant his feet touched down, wind and lightning burst beneath him again, and he flashed sideways once more.
The creature’s second swipe followed imdiately after. The claw tips brushed past his back, tearing away a strip of cloth from his sleeve. The shred of fabric had barely drifted into the air before the next claw caught it and shredded it to pieces.
Ryan rolled away and dropped to one knee, then looked up.
The thing stood wedged between three trees, its seven- or eight-ter-long black body filling nearly his entire field of vision.
It did not lunge at him imdiately. Instead, it slowly turned around, those dark yellow slit pupils fixed on him, narrowing slightly as though reassessing the worth of this prey.
Ryan was breathing hard, sweat running down his forehead and into his eyes. He had no ti to wipe it away. His gaze stayed locked on the monster as his mind raced through the exchange that had just happened.
Too fast.
The thing was so fast he could barely follow its movents. If he had been even half a beat slower against those two swipes just now, he would already be a corpse cut in half.
Syl’s voice rang out in his mind.
“This thing is faster than you. Don’t try to match it in reaction speed.”
“I know.”
Ryan rose to his feet and tightened his grip on the short knife. The blade was only two feet long. In front of this colossal monster, it looked no more threatening than a toothpick.
But he had no other weapon. That greatsword was still inside his spatial magic tool. There was no ti to take it out.
The creature moved again.
This ti, it did not pounce. It charged straight at him.
Its four limbs pounded against the ground, every step making the earth tremble.
It did not bother to go around trees or avoid obstacles. It simply barreled forward in a straight line, and every tree in its way shattered at a touch. Trunks as thick as bowls snapped. Trunks as thick as waists snapped too. The breaks exploded outward, scattering wood splinters like sothing blasted apart by cannon fire.
Ryan’s pupils contracted sharply.
He did not retreat straight backward. Backing away ant death. The thing was faster than him. In a straight sprint, he had no chance of outrunning it.
He threw himself sideways instead. Wind and lightning exploded beneath his feet, launching him more than ten ters away at an angle. The monster shot past his original position, and the pressure of the air it displaced slapped across his face so hard it almost knocked him off his feet.
Boom—
The creature slamd into a massive tree behind him, one so thick that five n could barely encircle it. The trunk shook violently. With a cracking groan, the upper half leaned dangerously.
But it did not break. This one was thick enough.
The creature hesitated for an instant.
Ryan saw it.
It had charged too hard. After crashing into the tree, its body lost balance and stumbled two steps forward before steadying itself. During those two steps, it did not attack or turn around. It rely staggered, like a race car that had lost control.
Ryan moved.
He did not flee.
He charged straight at it.
Wind and lightning detonated beneath his feet three tis in rapid succession, propelling him forward like a streak of light. The creature had only just regained its footing and had not even managed to turn before he reached its flank.
The knife thrust out.
The tip drove toward the joint of its hind leg. The fur there was thinner. The muscle there should have been lighter. Maybe he could force it in.
Clang—
The blade struck the fur with a dull tallic sound, as though it had hit an iron plate.
Ryan felt his tiger’s mouth jolt violently. The knife nearly flew from his hand.
He gritted his teeth and forced more power into the thrust. The blade advanced a single inch.
Had it pierced through?
No.
It had only penetrated the thick fur. The tip pressed against the muscle beneath and would go no farther.
The creature moved.
Its hind leg lashed out.
Ryan was flung bodily away and smashed into a tree, his back crashing hard against the trunk. The impact made it feel as though his organs had all been knocked out of place.
He slid down and dropped to one knee. His throat flooded with sweetness, and blood surged upward. He swallowed it back down instead of spitting it out.
The creature turned and stared at him.
Sothing had changed in those dark yellow slit pupils.
It was not anger.
It was sothing worse.
Curiosity. Amusent. The interest of a predator watching prey that still had the nerve to resist.
Ryan got back to his feet.
His back burned with pain. His chest felt so tight he could barely breathe.
He lowered his eyes to the short knife.
There was nothing on the blade. No blood. No damage.
That thrust had carried his full strength, and it had struck one of the creature’s relatively weaker joints.
Yet it still had not even broken the skin.
What in the world was this thunder-cursed thing made of?
The creature lunged again.
This ti it was faster, fiercer. It was no longer charging blindly. It was swaying left and right, testing his reactions. When Ryan dodged left, its head whipped right. When he retreated, it pounced forward.
Its massive body swung back and forth before him, claw after claw flashing past at close range. The gale from each swipe made his clothes snap wildly.
Ryan could do nothing but dodge.
Nothing but evade.
Wind and lightning kept exploding beneath his feet, hurling him left and right. Green wind and violet lightning wove around him into streaks of light like a nimble serpent, slipping through the gaps between the monster’s claws.
But the creature was too fast.
Every dodge ca down to the narrowest margin.
Again and again, the claw tips brushed his clothes, tearing away strip after strip of fabric.
His clothes were already ragged beyond recognition, exposing the white underlayer beneath. Even that inner layer now bore several shallow bloodstains, the cuts burning with sharp pain.
Ryan clenched his teeth and kept dodging.
Sweat stread into his eyes and stung viciously.
It was not enough.
Ryan braced himself against a tree trunk, panting like a bellows. His lungs burned. Every breath felt like soone was pouring chili water into his chest. His legs were so weak he could barely stand. His knees kept trembling, and only the tree at his back kept him from sliding down.
The monster prowled slowly so ten ters away.
It was no longer in a hurry.
Those dark yellow slit pupils watched him like a cat watching a mouse already driven into a corner.
It knew the prey was nearly exhausted.
It was waiting.
Waiting for him to collapse on his own.
Ryan clenched his teeth and forced himself upright.
His mind was still working.
He had already figured out one of the creature’s weaknesses.
It turned slowly.
It was like a race car pushed to its absolute limit. On a straightaway, it was terrifyingly fast, but when it needed to turn, it had to slow down. That was how he had survived those last few exchanges.
But what was the point of surviving?
If he could not kill it, he would die in the end anyway.
Ryan fixed his eyes on the creature, replaying every strike in his mind.
Each ti his blade hit it, it felt like stabbing iron plate.
That was not defensive magic. It was not armor. It was simply muscle.
Muscle so grotesquely hard it was beyond reason.
It ran that fast because those muscles could unleash horrifying bursts of force in an instant.
It was this impossible to injure because those sa muscles were hard enough to turn aside blade and spell alike.
A fireball would not even singe its fur.
An ice spike shattered into fragnts the instant it struck.
A short knife could not even leave a white line.
He could dodge it, but he could not hurt it.
In a battle of attrition, he would die first. One hundred percent.
Human Mana was finite.
Human stamina was finite.
But what about this thing’s stamina?
It had charged this long, attacked this many tis, and it still was not even breathing hard.
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