Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 36: A Tiger's Pride

A few minutes before Kashi emerged victorious from the Pride Floor, an equally pivotal battle reached its peak within the forest.

Bam! Bam! Bam! "Ack!" Styrke coughed up blood as he repeatedly blocked the Lich's thunderous sword strikes. The tora's desperate mana-reinforced shield was all that stopped the eight-foot bastard sword from ripping him in half!

"BREAK!" Nearby, Hogosha roared as it frantically attempted to escape from a bone prison suspended in the sky. The circular bone prison repeatedly shot out spikes to skewer the Nespian Tiger but repeatedly bounced off a layer of yellow-colored mana. Hogosha, in retaliation smashed its claws and body against the bone prison, but it could not extricate itself in the short time.

If Hogosha was connected to the ground, he could have summoned the earth to crush the prison, but he lost his connection to the earth due to the suspended prison. As a result, the desperate tiger could only watch with fear as the Lich finally shattered Stryke's shield.

"SRYKE!" Stryke's bloody figure caused something to shatter in Hogosha's mind. Like a dam smashed open, knowledge rapidly poured into the tiger, followed by torrents of mana and ki that seeped into its muscles and bones.

Buoyed by the sudden outburst, a giant mandala appeared beneath Hogosha's feet. Boom! A giant rock spire shot out of the mandala and crashed against the bone prison. The prison shattered on impact, and Hogosha charged out, its gray fur burning yellow with immense mana and ki.

Unfortunately, Hogosha released itself too late. By the time it charged out, the Lich's blade was only inches from Stryke's exposed face. The Nespian Tiger growled with frightened rage as it stomped against the ground. A thirty-meters-wide mandala spread out with it at the center, just about reaching underneath the Lich and Stryke. "[Earthquake]!"

A terrible groan accompanied Hogosha's shout as the ground heavily shuddered.

The rumbling took the Lich by surprise, causing its stab to slightly waver at the last second. Stryke, meanwhile, took advantage of the quakes to push his head to the right. Bang! The sword smashed the ground a few centimeters from Stryke's head. Rocks and dirt blasted into the air as the impact gouged out a ten-meter-long gully.

The immense winds meanwhile, sent Stryke tumbling across the ground. In any other situation, he might have gained sufficient distance to recover. Unfortunately, they were battling in a forest!

Bam!

Stryke had barely rolled two meters before his back struck a tree trunk. Stryke coughed up blood as the steel-like bark rebounded all the force into his sternum.

To further compound his predicament, the Lich abandoned its sword and stabbed its shield toward Stryke to finish him off. Although it sounds like a lot had happened, barely had passed from Hogosha bursting out its bone prison, casting [Earthquake] to the Lich stabbing the sharp end of its tower shield at the fallen Stryke.

Stryke needed more than a second to recover from the harsh rebound, and Hogosha needed a second before it could channel mana to cast another spell. Neither could make it in time before the shield would reach the Raid Leader.

"No!" Hogosha let out a mournful cry, but it could only watch as the Lich delivered the finishing blow.

BANG!

Powerful winds suddenly exploded outward as a flying axe smashed into the charging shield. The Lich roared in anger as it pushed its shield arm forward, blasting the ax into the tree above Stryke. Shockingly, the ax only managed to stick two to three centimeters deep, revealing the tree's outrageous durability.

Fortunately, the impact forced the Lich's shield arm back for a second. Beneath the Lich, Stryke took advantage of the lull to start rolling to the side.