Chapter 185: Chapter 185 - The Haven(Part 14)

"What’s the matter, aren’t you gonna attack?" I inquired with a smirk, as I fired out blasts of flames at her.

"Don’t get cocky, I’m not gonna lose so easily!" She exclaimed, racing across the arena to evade my attacks.

She’d tried attacking me after I emerged from the shadows, got zapped a bunch of times by the thin layer of lightning surrounding my entire body, and is now keeping her distance.

She did manage to inflict some damage when she attacked me, but I was able to heal those injuries right away. Every time I try to get close, she uses her Shockwave Skill to keep me away.

But she can’t keep this up for much longer...she’s reduced the extent of her Super Speed, but if my estimates are right, she has less than a minute left before the Skill wears off and takes a toll on her.

"You sure you want to keep running away? You’re not gonna beat me if you don’t attack!" I called out tauntingly, as I swung my whip across in her direction, extending it rapidly.

She swiftly ducked under it and zipped across to get away from it, before rapidly racing in towards me. Damn, she’s fast, she’s already closing in...she’s probably decided to attack before her time with Super Speed runs out, choosing to bear the pain that my Electric Armor Spell will inflict.

I slashed at her with the dagger end of my whip handle as she got within my range, she swiftly deflected the swing of my arm by striking my forearm with the back of her right fist, before slashing her left claws at me.

I quickly tilted my head back, her claws lightly grazing my nose as my lightning slowed down her movements. Suddenly, she struck my midsection with her right foot, sending me stumbling back with a grimace before she leapt straight at me with immense force.

I let myself fall before rapidly swinging both my feet up, slamming them onto her stomach before she could land onto me and pin me down, sending her flying back and skidding along the ground as she let out a sharp gasp.

I then sprang back onto my feet and fired out a swirling mass of blue flames at her. She quickly sprinted away on all fours, narrowly avoiding the flames before racing towards me at top speed.

I put away my whip as I readied myself to react, relaxing my feet as she closed in and leapt straight towards me. At the last second, as her claws before to pierce the skin over my chest, I rapidly shuffled my feet across, her claws slashing across the front of my chest as I stepped across to her left.

Her eyes widened in alarm, as I swiftly activated Jet Soles and Jet Boost under my right foot, shooting my leg up with as much force as I could generate, slamming it onto her midsection with a loud crash, an agonized wheeze of pain escaping her lips as I felt the bottom of her ribcage shatter.

She went shooting up into the air and crashed onto the ceiling of the barrier with rattling impact, a dazed look on her face as she began to plummet back down, coughing out blood as she let out a slight groan.

I stood below as she plunged down through the air, barely conscious as her transformation began to wear off, stretching out my arms as I steadied myself.

I caught her between my arms before she could crash onto the ground, before setting her back down and using a healing Spell on her to fix her broken ribs, while simultaneously healing the slash on my chest.

Oh, feels like I damaged some of her organs too. Yeah, I might have used a bit too much force in that last attack. Holding back the right amount is so hard to figure out.

Alright, she’s all healed up. She let out a cough as she sat up with a groan, grimacing with a pained look on her face. Yeah, I healed her injuries but there’s nothing I can do about the toll that her Skill takes on her.

"Ow...I can never get used to this backlash," She muttered with a sigh, before glancing at me with a wry smile, "That might have been the strongest kick I’ve ever been hit with...it really hurt. Thanks for healing me. You win, I surrender."

"That’s kinda stating the obvious, you can’t even stand right now," I replied with a smirk.

"Yes, I suppose so," She responded wearily, grimacing and stifling a hiss of pain as I began poking her.

"Does this make it worse?" I inquired with a grin, as I continuing to poke her sadistically.

"Ow...yes it-...ow...-does!" She growled, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Heh, thought so," I chuckled in amusement, as I kept at it.

"Ow! Stop that!" She hissed, her claws coming out.

Wow, she hisses just like a cat. Huh, you know what...I think I’m kinda into that.

"You know, you probably shouldn’t use this Skill in a real fight if you’re by yourself," I remarked, as I stopped poking, deciding not to push my luck.

"Of course, I know that, I’m not stupid," She huffed with a pout.

"Also, you’ve got great speed, but you’re too reliant on trying to overwhelm your opponent with speed alone. It makes your attacks a bit too straightforward, you should try adding feints in between your attacks," I advised her.

"What, are you trying to lecture me?" She responded with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, I am supposed to be coaching right now," I shrugged as I stretched my arms up.

"Hm, fair enough. And I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take your advice to heart," She replied wryly.

"So, uh...are you guys done? We should get back to training the kids," Chimed in Prysm, walking over.

"Oh, right. Heh, gotta say, it’s funny that you’re calling them kids, they’re all way older than you," I chuckled in amusement.

"They’re way older than you too, remember?" She pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know."

"The pain is finally starting to recede...I think I should be able to get up now," Remarked Sinia, as she got back onto her feet with a slight frown.

"Sounds like you could use some weed," I replied with a grin.

"You read my mind, I was just thinking the same thing," She nodded in agreement.

"Make sure to pay attention to the training, don’t get too distracted," Prysm sighed, as the young Demi-Humans resumed training.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I won’t slack off," I responded, as I headed over to the sidelines and sat down on a bench.

Sinia followed after me and sat down beside me, reaching for her bag, in which the pipe and the weed was in. She tore up a bud and stuffed it into the pipe, before handing it to me.

"Since you defeated me, you can have the honor of lighting it up and taking the first puff," She smiled, as I took it from her.

"I graciously accept," I grinned, as I put the pipe to my lips and lit it up.

"Mm, I love that smell so m-...huh?" She suddenly frowned, as a faint crash echoed out in the distance.

"What was that?" I inquired warily, as I set the pipe down and stood up.

"Tch, not good. It must be Monsters again. Come with me," She remarked with a grimace, as she suddenly began racing towards the direction the sound had come from.

I quickly followed after her, activating Flight and Jet Boost to keep up and conserve energy.

"Hold on, you get Monsters down here!?" I asked her in bemusement.

"It used to be quite rare, but over the last few months, they’ve been appearing increasingly frequently," She informed me, as she transformed and picked up the pace.

"I see. Hm...tell me, have the Monsters that’ve been appearing recently been showing up from the same area?" I inquired as a thought occurred to me.

"Huh? Uh, actually, yes...they’ve all been tunnelling out from the wall we’re heading towards. We’ve been using Elemental Earth to seal up the tunnels they create, but more keep appearing shortly after," She replied as she clenched her fists.

"If that’s the case, it could be possible that they’re showing up here because something more powerful has appeared in their habitat and forcing them to run away," I suggested warily.

"That’s a good thought, I hadn’t considered that possibility...this problem may well just be getting started," She frowned, right as the Monsters came into sight.

"Those are...Drill Worms," I recognized the species with a grimace.

They’re Intermediate Grade Monsters, worm creatures that can grow upto five meters in length and have thick bodies that could easily fit two or even three people side by side.

They have drill shaped heads that they can use to tear apart their prey, and those heads can also split open, and they can fire out a powerful acid from their mouths.

They’re not too hard to kill, but...there’s like twenty of them over here! This won’t be easy...but it won’t be particularly difficult either...

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