When the water serpent slammed Steve back to the ground, a small earthquake-like vibration was created. Indicates how strong the impact actually is.
Erend still continues to channel his Magic energy into the water serpent. Give it life to keep mauling on Steve.
The water serpent took its jaw off Steve. Erend could catch a glimpse of Steve's figure lying on the ground and not moving.
But Erend didn't let the water serpent last too long. He controlled his water serpent to once again smash itself open-jawed against Steve.
*BOOM!*
Once again a great vibration was created. The burned tree leaves around immediately fell off and left bare tree branches.
'Is this over?'
Erend wondered in his heart. Could that attack be enough to incapacitate Steve?
With the condition that his body was almost destroyed by fire, coupled with the continuous water attacks, Erend guessed that Steve had suffered enough damage to make him unable to move anymore.
*BOOM!*
Meanwhile, another explosion was heard from the direction of the facility building. Erend became even more worried.
But he still couldn't move from here before confirming that Steve was indeed dead.
Erend changed the water serpent to return to its water ball form.
But Erend didn't get rid of it, he only let the ball of water float by not far from Steve's body if it turned out that Steve could get back up.
Erend approached Steve carefully. He no longer attacked recklessly knowing that the Magic of the cursed tree inside Steve could have unexpected effects.
Erend walked slowly. He didn't notice Steve moving again.
'Can I get more information about that cursed tree from his body?'
Maybe some kind of sample from Steve's body could be a clue that Aurdis and Saeldir could use.
'Hmm, making sure that he dies first would be much safer.'
So Erend wanted to move the water ball back to turn into a water serpent again. However, Steve got up quicker than he thought.
*BWOOOSSHHH!!!*
The explosion from Steve's body threw Erend backward. He toppled a few times before finally coming to a stop.
'Shit! I'm late!'
Erend immediately channeled his Magic energy to restore his water serpent form. Then control it to attack Steve again.
The water serpent opened its jaws and crashed into Steve with incredible force. However, the water serpent was countered by Steve's fire blast.
Erend frowned seeing the fire coming out of Steve's body.
'It looks darker than before.'
Steve raised his body to stand with the fire pushing him from below. Now Steve's form is getting more horrible.
The front of his body was much more damaged than before. Some of his ribs were exposed because the flesh and skin had been destroyed.
Erend suspected that it was caused by the water serpent's attack earlier.
It is not just that. Steve's face is also getting more disfigured. His blonde hair, which only had a few strands left, had been completely burnt and was now gone.
Part of the flesh on his face had crumbled to reveal the skull bones.
The flesh around his left eye had also been damaged so that his left eye was now just hanging down as if it could fall at any moment with a slight tug.
But there was one thing that didn't change on Steve's face. Namely his vengeful expression with teeth grinding hard. His eyes that were still intact stared at Erend with enormous hatred.
Erend had also felt such hatred. He didn't know where the hatred came from but when he looked into Steve's eyes, the hatred that seemed so old burned inside him.
'Well, that can only mean one thing. I have to kill him.'
That hatred clearly signifies hostility. Maybe there was some kind of ancient rivalry involving the Dragons with that cursed tree in the very past.
After all, there is no knowledge or records whatsoever about that tree. So all possibilities can still happen.
Including the possibility of a bad connection between the Dragons and the cursed tree.
Suddenly the fire on his body flared up even more. The fire immediately burned his body and scorched the remaining flesh on his body which was still intact.
The flesh on Steve's body turned charred and filled with reddish cracks like the ground around a volcano.
Because the water serpent had disappeared, Erend concentrated on creating a large enough water attack once again.
However, of course, Steve certainly wouldn't let him finish the preparations. He shot off with incredible speed.
In the blink of an eye, Steve was right in front of Erend.
Erend, who was still concentrating, realized that he had made a mistake.
*BUAGHH!*
A fist from Steve hit Erend in the face sending him flying backward. That fist was indeed quite strong, even slightly stronger than before.
However, Erend was not thrown too far. He was only thrown back a few meters because he managed to flap his wings at the right time.
Steve immediately shot back towards him as if he no longer wanted to give Erend a chance to just breathe.
But unlike what Steve thought, Erend was ready to return the punch earlier.
Steve's body suddenly fell while he was charging toward Erend.
There was a small pool of water under his feet. And the water in the puddle caught Steve's feet.
"Heylh!" Erend snorted. Then he moved his hands to control the water under Steve's feet.
The water immediately rose and its volume was much bigger than that small pool of water.
Erend moved the water to cover Steve's body.
*CSSSSSHHH!!!*
A white mist appeared accompanied by a hissing sound that sounded louder than usual. It's a sign of how hot Steve's body is right now.
The water that Erend controlled evaporated quickly. But he immediately poured in more Magic energy to maintain his water.
"ARRGGHHH!!!"
Steve screamed in pain. Erend could even see that he opened his mouth so wide that the flesh at the corners of his mouth that had been scorched by the fire tore.
~~~
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