Shock and fear spread among the group on the scene. Sonia and the Niqols remained still when they saw Glenn"s state. Many aliens had even suffered injuries, but they weren"t nearly as severe.
However, most of the injured Niqols couldn"t fight anymore. Some couldn"t stand up due to their fuming legs. Fears had also started to take control of their minds and affect their actions.
Khan, George, and a few aliens were the only ones who managed to remain calm, and they quickly recognized each other when their eyes swept the battlefield. Warriors didn"t need words in those situations. Short exchanges of glances were enough to understand that they had to take the mess into their own hands.
"Sonia, bring Glenn away!" Khan shouted while his eyes remained on the ma.s.sive monster. "George, get me something sharp!"
The monster was puking blood. The palm strikes from the Niqols had hurt its insides and had inflicted decent damage. Yet, the creature remained on its legs, and angry roars mixed with its retches whenever it raised its eyes toward its opponents.
Khan found himself in the same situation experienced with the first-level warrior Kred. His martial art gave him the chance to approach his opponent safely and deliver powerful blows, but simple kicks weren"t enough to fill the gap that divided the level of their bodies.
The pain spreading from his waist even forced him to accept that the monster could be more dangerous than the Kred. The creature had attacks that could almost match his speed, and he felt unable to predict their arrival properly.
Khan wanted to put an end to the battle quickly, but he lacked deadly attacks. Yet, everything would change if he could get close enough to stab the monster"s head with one of George"s enhanced weapons.
"He"s not breathing!" Sonia suddenly shouted.
"Get him out anyway!" Khan ordered before shooting forward and slamming his knee on the distracted creature.
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The skin on the monster"s forehead opened, and cracks appeared on its skull, but the attack failed to fling it away again. The creature even tried to open its mouth and bite Khan"s leg off, but a kick landed on its cracked jaw and completely broke it.
The monster didn"t understand what was happening. The creature didn"t even see Khan"s movements, and the lower part of its mouth now hung from its broken jaw. The beast had even lost track of him again after the last kick, and bluish light spread through its fur as anger built inside its mind.
The sparks that ran through its hair dispersed when a heel slammed on the back of its head. Khan completed his third technique and immediately flowed into a fourth when the monster"s face touched the ground.
The spinning airborne kick had slammed the monster"s head to the ground, and the fourth technique moved the entirety of Khan"s bodyweight on its nape to make it dive deeper into the terrain.
Some of the escaping sparks managed to hit his body during the attacks, but they only created small red patches on his skin. The monster didn"t manage to gather much mana before losing control of its ability, so Khan easily endured the bluish flashes.
Two Niqols approached the monster from behind at that point. Palm strikes landed on the creature"s fur and spread tremors inside its body than Khan could feel from the foot still planted on its head.
"Catch!" George shouted as a flying ma.s.s of mana approached Khan from the side.
Khan"s hand shot to grab the ma.s.s that turned out to be George"s short sword. A dark-silver halo was covering the sharp edges of the blade. The boy had already enhanced the weapon, and Khan didn"t hesitate to make it descend toward the monster"s head as his foot left its nape.
The blade"s sharp tip descended toward the center of the hole opened during the last two kicks, but an intense bluish light suddenly filled the environment and blinded everyone on the scene. Khan felt that mana was flying toward him, but he was too close to dodge it.
Khan lost his foothold and his grip on his blade. His senses were numb as his eyes tried to disperse the light that covered the environment. Something appeared in his vision when a rough feeling started to spread from his back. He slowly understood where he was, and his condition made him curse.
The last attack had flung Khan away by a full eight meters. He even suspected that the flight would have lasted longer if his back didn"t hit one of the few intact trees in the area.
George"s blade was nowhere to be seen, and charred flesh filled his palm. Tree-shaped patches of red skin spread from that spot and covered the entirety of his left arm. The lightning bolt had hit him, but the damage wasn"t too severe. He could even open and close his hand if he ignored the pain.
Khan forced himself to stand up. Blood flowed through his back due to a few wounds that had opened after the impact with the tree, but they weren"t worthy of his concern, not while the monster kept its eyes fixed on him.
The monster appeared tired and on the verge of fainting. Its condition gave Khan the time to inspect the battlefield, but the situation seemed far from promising.
The two Niqols who had been close to the creature couldn"t dodge the attack either. Khan could see some of the injured aliens taking care of them and dragging them out of the battlefield.
George didn"t move as he wielded his sheath with both hands and stared at the monster. He had never dared to get too close to the creature, but Khan couldn"t complain about his decision. After all, the boy had no way of dodging the lightning bolts. Only the distance was giving him the chance to react to those attacks.
Some of the injured Niqols who weren"t busy tending those in bad condition stood up, but they also remained at some distance from the monster. They knew that they were close to defeating the creature, but it was clear that the first to charge ahead would have to endure the entirety of its rage.
Khan accepted that he was the only one up for the task. His injuries wouldn"t slow him down either, so he had a high chance to dodge the next attack as long as he deployed hit and run tactics. Yet, waiting seemed a better option since it would be easier to react to an incoming lightning bolt than avoid it once he was up close.
Blood continued to flow from the monster"s mouth and nose. The recent attacks had clearly affected it, but it continued to stand and stare at Khan. The creature had identified him as the biggest threat inside the group, and it didn"t dare to stop studying him.
"Come on!" Khan cursed in his mind. "Attack me already!"
The silence that had fallen on the battlefield was deafening. Only the crackling noise of the small fires, the creaking sounds of the bending trunks, the ragged breathing of the recruits, and the occasional retches of the monster filled the area. Everything else was still, but heavy steps soon took care of bringing movement again.
Many presences suddenly appeared in Khan"s mind. The other teams of humans and Niqols came out of the trees and charged at the monster. The group had invested some time encircling the area, so they attacked the creature from every direction.
Khan"s eyes widened at that scene. His mind generated images on its own when he saw the twenty recruits from both species jumping toward the monster. He could already predict what was about to arrive, so he quickly hid behind a tree.
A blinding bluish light filled the area. Khan could see that radiance even if he had closed his eyes and had hidden behind the thick trunk. The tree experienced a violent tremor when an attack landed on its surface, and Khan decided to take a peek at the battlefield after that event.
Recruits from both species were flying in every direction. Charred cracks had even appeared on the ground due to the many lightning bolts that had shot out.
Everything flowed in slow motion in Khan"s eyes. The recruits were still in the air when he got a complete view of the scene. Thoughts were trying to move through his mind and develop a battle plan, but his instincts made him act before that.
The monster had always required some time to prepare that ma.s.sive discharge of lightning bolts. The creature seemed to get faster after every attack, but its improvements didn"t change that it had just released its acc.u.mulated energy. It was at its weakest now, and Khan didn"t hesitate to exploit the safest seconds between the exchanges.
Khan pushed his body more than he had ever done in the past. The Lightning-demon style"s power depended on how much speed he could endure, but his limits didn"t matter now.
Khan had instinctively understood that he wouldn"t get a better chance since the monster continued to shorten the time required by its ability. He had to make sure that his next attack killed the creature and put an end to that dangerous battle.
The pain released by his charred palm intensified as his skin burnt due to the friction with the air. Khan disregarded the physical limits set by his attunement with mana and reached the monster in an instant.
The mental barrier had surged to keep the pain away and make Khan focus on his technique. He had only one shot at that. Failing to deliver a proper blow would leave him open in front of the angry monster.
The entirety of his momentum flowed into his rising knee. An intense burning sensation tried to seep past the mental barrier during the execution of the technique, but Khan managed to keep it away until his attack landed on the monster"s head.
The mental barrier crumbled at that point, and Khan experienced the entirety of his pain. He felt on fire, and the faint scent of burning flesh even spread from under him.
However, he quickly forced himself to stabilize his position and lift his hands when he saw the monster"s shape rising and standing on its rear legs. Khan noticed that smoke was coming out of his arms, but he didn"t let that detail distract him from the danger in front of him.
The monster raised its front legs when it straightened its position completely, but no attack descended. The creature bent backward and fell on its back right in front of Khan"s incredulous eyes.
Khan relaxed after he noticed that the monster didn"t move anymore. His eyes quickly moved toward its neck as he took careful steps to circle the creature"s big figure. His legs lost power and made him fall on his knees when he noticed that the beast"s head had disappeared. It had turned into a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp that had partially vanished inside its body.
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