The Lupine System-Chapter 142: Theresa Vs Mike
Theresa Vs Mike
BANG BANG BANG
Deafening explosions followed by pillars of fire erupted throughout the forest as a blue streak chased a fiery red one rapidly, their movements difficult to catch with the naked eye.
The previously quite surroundings were now constantly rocked with the sounds of the ongoing battle which was rapidly increasing in intensity.
Theresa drew the string of her bow for the umpteenth time and let it loose, firing three orange arrows that streaked towards the hulking figure of Mike, the heat from them warping the air.
Normally, Mike would have defended or dodged, but this situation was anything but normal.
With a snarl, he simply ran through the projectiles like a bulldozer running through a wall. Each one exploded on impact, but a moment later, a figure wrought in flames burst through, arm stretched towards Theresa.
Theresa responded with two arrows. One slammed right into his pawed hand while the other hit it from the side, throwing it off course.
She drew again, and this time, the arrows hit Mike in the ribs and stomach, making him stagger. She tried to draw again, but a leg swung through the air like an axe, and she had to leap away to avoid getting cleaved in two.
As soon as she did, Mike opened his muzzle, and Theresa saw his aura condensing there.
She immediately aimed an arrow below herself and let it loose. It detonated, and the force threw her into the air just as Mike Howled, but it wasn’t the hauntingly beautiful one that had rendered her and Kris immobile.
Now, what came was a devastating wave of sound and energy that eviscerated everything in its path.
With a bead of sweat dripping down her brow, Theresa landed on a tree, only to leap away as a blast of pure concussion force blew it apart.
’Insane.’ She thought as she let loose more arrows in response.
’I knew he was durable, but like this? Is he simply that firm, or does this form give him some level of elemental resistance?’ She wondered.
Besides that first glancing blow, Mike hadn’t hit her once. Meanwhile, Theresa had been peppering him with arrows constantly, and they almost always hit due to his refusal to dodge of block them. And yet, she didn’t feel elated in the least.
Initially, she’d hoped she could constantly hurt him and force him to heal himself. That way, it would become a war of attrition where she would slowly whittle him down.
’But none of my attacks are even piercing his fur!’ She exclaimed with frustration and disbelief.
Even if the fur was resistant to elemental attacks, her arrows were still solid to a degree and could pierce most known materials, but they failed to even break his skin. At most, they could stagger or stun him for a brief moment, but never injure. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Suddenly, her neck tingled, and and dropped down just as three massive aura claws slashed above her, rending the forest behind her apart, and before she could stand, a massive foot descended towards her skull.
Another explosion sent her out of the way of the attack, but Mike was hounding her like, well, like a wolf that smelled blood.
’If he could think properly right now, I’d be dead.’ She gritted her teeth as she continued to kite him. Being an archer, she was naturally skilled at keeping a distance between herself and her opponent.
As for what she’d thought, indeed, her biggest saving grace was the fact that, right now, Mike was not in a right state of mind. His ability to foresee and predict actions would have made him utterly horrifying to deal with in this state.
Not that his inability to do it right now made it much easier. If he got even a single good hit on her, she’d die at worst and be severely injured at best.
Moreover, Theresa was on a timer. She’d used a boosting skill after surviving that first hit, and while it might not have been as damaging as Mike’s Overclocking, it was still straining enough to stop her from using it indefinitely.
What’s more.
’He’s still locked onto me.’ She frowned.
While as a humanoid, Mike could be aware of her location at all times due to his senses, and it was clear that ability carried over now. What’s more, she suspected that his instincts still worked, so why he hadn’t capitalized on them yet was beyond he–
Her pupils shrunk as she pivoted her body while holding out her bow in front of her like a shield.
A massive, furred, aura-covered fist glanced off the bow like a missile.
That said, Theresa reacted appropriately. She held out her bow in time and managed to deflect the worst of it. For all intents and purposes, her response was correct and executed flawlessly.
’So what is this strength?!’ She yelled in her mind as she was still sent flying like a broken kite, crashing through trees and rocks alike.
She forcefully stopped herself by making an arrow explode behind her, but even if she was immune to her own flames, the concussion force from the back combined with the inertia from the deflected hit made her feel like she was being squished, and she could help but cough out more blood.
Sadly, even with all of this, she had no respite.
She moved as another sonic howl tore through the forest.
’Alright, let’s run over what we know.’ She huffed as she continued her assault despite its seeming futility.
’Mike in this state is far stronger than anything he’s shown before. At least, his raw strength is beyond Kris and I.’ She raised her bow to ghe sky and key loose a particularly bright arrow.
It soared high before spitting into hundreds of smaller arrows that rained down across the forest, turning it into a sea of fire. Most people would struggle under the immense heat, but Mike barely seemed to register it at all.
’He’s too durable for me to damage. Not unless I have time to prepare a more powerful attack, which he won’t give me. All of his attacks are also far more potent than before. He’s like a bulldozer, and yet...’ Her eyes narrowed slightly.
’He has no technique.’
If she had to describe the situation, she felt like she was fighting Mike for the first time again. Back then, he didn’t know how to fight and relied solely on his instincts and raw power to fight her.
It was a similar situation now, just far more dire.
’Alright, let’s switch things up.’ With that thought, Theresa’s bow suddenly changed shape. It went from a brilliant longbow made of flames to a far more subtle, but no less eye-catching shortbow.
Mike rushed her, but surprisingly, she let loose several more arrows in a second than she had before.
By changing its shape, Theresa could make her bow more convenient for different situation, and right now, she wanted it to do one thing.
Rapid fire.
Smaller but faster arrows were shot out last though she were a machine gun, and Mike was peppered relentlessly. Sadly, the damage output dropped significantly as a result, but that wasn’t her aim.
Mike growled as the sheer quantity of arrows was making it difficult for him to move.
’Your instincts only warn you of attacks that are truly dangerous, but my arrows don’t need to hurt you to be a threat!’ That’s when she did something insane.
She went in close.
Just as Mike was still recovering from the spray of arrows, Theresa was suddenly in his space, back to the ground and bow aimed under his chin, back to its longbow form.
Mike growled and swung downwards, but while his hulking form made his attacks far more dangerous, it also made it harder to hit anything smaller than him that was in his personal space.
The arrow struck the underside of Mike’s chin with enough force to make his head snap back sharply, which is when another arrow Theresa had released some moments earlier streaked down in a graceful arc and plunged right into his open muzzle, into his throat.
’Explode!’ Light shone from Mike’s mouth as his throat bulged unnaturally, the flames starting g to expand.
’Please don’t kill him.’ She thought with some anxiety, but what happened next made her eyes widen.
The flames... suddenly shifted their trajectory, and they shot out of his mouth like a flamethrower.
’ .. You have to be kidding me.’ Even Theresa couldn’t hide the exasperation on her face.
Even then, she refused to be discouraged.
She launched several arrows around the place and backed away just as Mike recovered. While she was disappointed, she was sure that not even Mike had gotten out of that unscathed, and the fact he didn’t let out another sonic howl told her that his throat had received significant damage.
’It’s not enough, though.’ She thought, then winced.
God, her muscles were on fire.
That was the cost of her boosting skill. The longer it was active, the higher her internal temperature would rise. And if she used it for too long...
She would combust from the inside.
She looked up just as Mike pounced again, but, surprisingly, he paused.
Then he started to cough violently.
Theresa watched as he coughed up globs of blood, and she didn’t say anything, just drew her bow.
She’d made sure to set as much of the forest as possible on fire, and from the get-go, Mike had been inhaling a lot of smoke. Even with his healing, that amount of smoke inhalation was already lethal to most people.
’If you had been coherent, you would have known to protect yourself properly with your aura.’ She drew her bow further, and the arrow she was making was releasing an unholy amount of heat which only climbed.
Mike seemed to finally sense danger as his head snapped up, and he began to move despite the smoke poisoning. But, at that moment, the arrows Theresa had shot around the place with no apparent direction suddenly glowed, and in an instant, strings of condensed flames interconnected between each of them, with Mike at the center.
His limbs were bound briefly, just long enough for Theresa to look him in the eye and let her arrow fly.
’Empyrean shot.’
