Chapter 413: Thick
As strange as it sounded, Liam had experience fighting level three magical beasts. If he included Dominic, he probably was the only rooting expert in the world who knew exactly how to handle that superior cultivation stage.
Still, it didn’t take a genius or extensive experience to reach the conclusion that the world had settled on. The odds in such clashes were so bad they were often straight-up impossible.
Even in victory, Liam had come out thoroughly broken in body and mind. He also had many conditions that worked in his favor, be it the familiarity with the opponent and an environment with no hindrances.
That didn’t apply to Liam’s current predicament, but the same could be said about him. He was so different that he might as well consider himself a new man, and that didn’t only involve his heart.
Strength that made Liam’s body no different than a rank 2 technique flooded him. Confidence of intensity he had never wielded in the past sharpened his mind, leaving no room for doubt, hesitation, or second-guessing.
Two thunderous noises resounded as those giant, furred paws closed on Liam. Two iterations of the Lightning Step wouldn’t have provided the speed burst to escape those unreasonably fast limbs, but that only applied to evasive maneuvers.
Liam didn’t dodge. He dived in, using the magical beast’s size against it. There were openings at its shoulders, slower, incomplete moves due to the nature of that simple attack, and Liam exploited them.
The first sprint sent Liam diagonally under the bear’s left arm, while the second slammed him to its side, zigzagging inside that opening.
Liam crashed violently on that tough hide but didn’t care. There was no real safety against a level three magical beast. There was no escaping such a battle unscathed, so he would suffer on his own terms.
As tough as the bear was, Liam’s body endured the impact. He might have slammed into an unmovable wall at high speed, but he was far from brittle, the body-enhancing pill he had swallowed pushing his resilience almost to the extreme.
Of course, such a crude charge wasn’t the goal of Liam’s attack. He might have been able to lift the bear, but hurting it significantly with his bare hands was a different matter altogether. Instead, he used that opportunity to place his palms on the thick hide, his hands having already performed a half-circular motion.
Sadly, as successful as that execution was, it only served to give Liam an idea of his opponent’s fearsome qualities. The snake might have been bigger, but the bear was denser in ways that felt impenetrable.
Liam felt the two bullets of black Qi lose most of their power to cross the bear’s hide, and their following explosions left a lot to be desired.
The explosions were not only weak due to the small amount of remaining energy. They also couldn’t reach any vital spot due to the thick layer of fat and muscle around the bear.
Even there, the bullets didn’t destroy much. The bear’s tissues were too resilient to suffer any meaningful damage. Yet, it hurt, and the magical beast only had one response to those events.
The bear roared, spinning on itself, throwing its giant arms to its right, its moves carrying speed and swiftness that a creature of such size shouldn’t possess.
Yet, the Concussive Palm’s lack of whiplashes showed its value there. The bear snapped its arms so quickly that many rooting experts would fail to record the attack, but Liam had seen it even before it came, and he had remained one step ahead.
Four thunderous noises exploded in a row, two circling the bear alongside its spinning, while the others created distance.
Liam stopped several meters away from the bear’s right side while it was still finishing its swing, his lungs already bloated to blow pitch-black gas from his mouth.
The battle against a level three magical beast had created a no-go zone on the battlefield. It was a field no ordinary cultivator would step into out of fear of being caught in deadly exchanges or their repercussions.
However, with the fourth bear busy, those who had failed to pursue Liam’s group could consider circling the fearsome battle to focus on their main goal.
The Poisonous Breath shattered such brittle strategies. With fifty-one minor roots, Liam’s Qi reserves were immense, which translated into a giant, widespread mass of deadly gas that washed over dozens of square meters in no time, blocking any immediate path around the battle.
Of course, Liam hadn’t used his spell for those reasons. He had remained aware of his surroundings, but his opponent claimed the entirety of his attention. Doing otherwise was courting death.
Still, Liam found himself sharing those cultivators’ thoughts. He had indeed used the Poisonous Breath mainly to create space, taking over the area while buying himself time.
Truth was, killing the bear wasn’t Liam’s goal, not even close. He was there to seize resources, and stubbornly pursuing that fight would be a waste of time and money.
The bear was also a bad match-up. It was too thick for Liam’s rank 2 attacks to inflict meaningful injuries. Poison was also bound to have limited effects, if any, against such a heavy creature, especially since he would use products of an inferior level.
Liam believed he could kill the magical beast, but it would take time during which countless variables could appear, especially in that environment full of potential enemies.
Most importantly, the holdup might cost Liam the ingredients. He trusted Grace, and his new friends were capable, but someone had known about the Rainbow Roses, meaning others had to have their exact location.
The fact that no one had claimed the ingredient yet meant that fights were happening further ahead, too. Liam actually had already smelled them, so he didn’t want to be stuck there. He had to help with the main goal and ensure his team’s safety.
Nevertheless, before Liam could consider how to shake off the bear, the world opened. The vast black cloud instantly vanished, and the cracked ground split, a vast canyon spreading on the mountain’s slope, its edges rising and shattering, causing repercussions for everyone else.
Explosions unfolded everywhere. Geysers of soil rose as the canyon sharply expanded, pushing ground against ground. Smaller elevations formed on the spot and crumbled under the unbearable, sudden pressure.
The mountain was coming undone, but Liam only passively caught that because a paw filled his view, claws already on his head.
Comments