Chapter 200: Long time Partners Meet in Battle Part 2

With low visibility and Tank's massive amount of aura making it challenging for Joshua to see exactly where all of his opponents were at the moment, Joshua was glad that all of his targets were massive in size. It didn't really take much range of vision for him to know exactly where Titus and Tank were at. It was harder to tell where Cinder and Lily were, but since Joshua couldn't sense them outside of Tank's massive sphere of aura it was clear that they were both on top of the turtle's shell. With that in mind Joshua had no problem figuring out just where he had to go to get to his target.

Joshua dodged to the side once again avoiding more vines that tore through the arena floor. It was clear that Titus was staying back and just trying to corner Joshua so that Tank and Cinder could go on the offensive and try to take him out. It was a simple strategy, but one that would easily force Joshua to make quick decisions. A drawn out match would get him nowhere, and just charging blindly towards Lily in an attempt to take her down before her beast companions could corner him and take him out wasn't likely to work out so well for him. There was only one way that Joshua could see to win this match before he got overwhelmed. He needed to knock aside Lily's beast companions before focusing completely on her.

When everyone else had fought her they went after Lily without a care for her beast companions. Of course they tried their best to avoid being trapped, but in the end they were always overwhelmed trying to avoid the relentless assault of Lily's beast companions. At the moment Joshua was dealing with that same problem, but he knew that if he could get all of her beast companions out of the way for just a moment then he'd get the chance he'd need to take his longtime exploration partner out.

His first target was Titus, the giant gorilla that was currently the only one of her beast companions that was going on the attack. He didn't need to completely take him down, but Joshua was going to need to knock the giant monkey away long enough to go after the others. Getting to him would be annoying with all of the vines in the way and Joshua couldn't just use his aura hardening to block the vines. If he did that then his defense would soar, but the amount of strength he would gain from his aura would drop. Trying to break through all of the defenses that Lily and her beast companions had up with a restriction on his strength would be just asking to lose.

With that in mind Joshua sucked it up as he let his aura surge around him and kicked off the ground as he charged directly towards the giant gorilla that was obscured by the mist. Joshua didn't have time to dodge around all of the vines knowing full well that Lily wasn't just letting Cinder and Tank sit there and do nothing. When the vines he was charging through tried to run him through or capture him, he'd cut them down with his scale blade whenever one of the vines got to close. At first it was simple to do, but eventually Titus started mixing in different types of vines with seeds on them that exploded or bark that was hard to cut through. It made it annoying to deal with, but it wasn't enough to stop Joshua's advance.

When he got close enough to where he was able to visibly see Titus he grinned as his aura concentrated around his blade while he prepared to use one of his new skills. Several more vines shot out of the ground around him, but they were just a little too late as Joshua's surge of aura shot him up into the air. He leaped over all of the vines on the arena floor and soared directly towards Titus which seemed to have the gorilla caught by surprise. Joshua looked like a berserker as he roared wildly and pulled his scale blade back. The heavy weapon was surrounded in so much aura that it was almost blinding, and it was all necessary for what was to come next.

The moment Joshua closed in on Titus's armored chest he swung down with all of the force he could muster while also surging some aura towards his feet for his getaway strategy. When his scale blade slammed into the vine armor a large cut surged upward all the way through Titus's shoulder. The vine armor prevented it from doing any real damage, but it still cut deep enough to send blood into the air. The force of the impact sent Titus stumbling backward to the point where he was about to fall over, but Joshua wasn't going to wait around to see it through. He had done his damage already and Titus wasn't his main goal in the first place. The aura concentrated on his feet exploded outward at that moment sending Joshua leaping away from Titus and towards the giant shadow of Tank.

The small jump wasn't going to be enough for Joshua to reach all the way over to Tank so he was forced to use his blink skill to close the distance. He was high up enough to land half way up Tank's shell, but he knew he was going to have to climb up quickly before Titus recovered and rejoined the fight. Even with all of the aura that Tank had surrounding his body Joshua could sense an even greater gathering of aura forming at the top of Tank's shell and he knew that was going to be another obstacle he was going to have to deal with. He already had several scrapes and injuries from some of the vines that he was forced to cut his way through, blood already becoming a common sight on any of the exposed parts of his body. Luckily those injuries were superficial for the most part and he could already feel his aura healing them.

Not wasting any time Joshua took a fast approach to climbing using his aura to constantly leap upwards while clinging on to any crevices on Tank's shell. It wouldn't take very long to climb up if that was all he had to deal with, but there were several explosives bubbles headed his way causing Joshua to frown a bit. Refusing to slow his pace, Joshua charged on through gritting his teeth whenever one of the bubbles exploded near him. The damage of the explosions was greatly reduced by his aura only causing slight welts and bruises, but eventually the damage would pile up. Joshua was aware of this and wasn't going to let himself slow down for a second as he occasionally used the bubble explosions as ways to send himself even further up Tank's shell. He'd avoid the ones that were exploding in front of him while letting the ones exploding behind him push him even further up.

By the time Joshua had reached the top of Tank's shell he was in a similar state to almost all of Lily's previous opponents. He was covered in injuries, but his aura had helped him avoid any vital damage. Even so what Joshua saw when he reached his last obstacle wasn't something that he could just rely on his aura to deal with. Cinder was standing at the center of Tank's shell at a size that amounted to about the size of a house with Lily on top of her back. She was in a crouched position and preparing to leap away. Cinder was in her ice form causing the massive cold fog all around them and she looked as if she was about to let loose another attack at any moment.

Lily was also channeling a spell that quickly created this barrier of water that surrounded the entire area, trapping Joshua inside. Tank roared as the water around them seemed to surge as giant waves reached high into the air and were preparing to crash down. If Joshua got caught up in that attack he'd be swept off of Tank's back and right down into the waiting arms of Titus who Joshua could hear slamming his fist on the ground after recovering from Joshua's previous attack.

Taking a deep breath Joshua charged forward without caring about all of the aura he was wasting as he kicked off the ground and closing the distance between him and Cinder. The moment the water started to come crashing down Cinder shot a wave cold air that froze the top of Tank's shell making it harder for Joshua to close the distance. Cinder then leaped into the air to get out of the range of Tank's attack, but Joshua wasn't going to let Lily get away so easily. He smiled as he got close enough to Cinder right before she leaped by jumping forward and sliding on the ice. There was no way he was going to be able to jump off of such a surface nearly as well as Cinder, but he didn't have to as he shot out an aura string that attached to one of Cinder's legs. The moment she leaped into the air Joshua was brought along with her.

The aura string that Joshua used was as strong as he could make it, and since it wasn't being used to restrain someone Joshua didn't have to worry about it breaking easily. He pulled himself up on it just enough to avoid the crashing waves below him and then watched as Cinder swung her leg trying to get rid of him. Joshua held on tight until the perfect moment when he was thrown up above both Cinder and Lily do to the momentum of the swinging string. He let go and reoriented himself before using an aura blast from his feet to send himself soaring back down towards Lily and Cinder. They were both in a position where they couldn't avoid Joshua's approach but she still had Light around to create a shield for her, and the fact that Joshua could see the shadows around her turning into scythe like tails he knew that Lily had brought out Jade as well for one final clash. The missing roars of Titus told him how she was able to accomplish this.

Joshua concentrated all of his aura into his scale blade once more as he raced directly for Lilly caring little for Jade's incoming attack or Light's shield. The scythe like tails tried to cut deeply into Joshua but he used his own aura shield to block them as he pushed through and slammed his scale blade on Light's protective shield. The clash didn't last long as the force of the blow and the following explosion destroyed Light's shield and left Lilly open for the following echo strike. She blocked most of it with her staff and the fact that she was currently linked to Tank at the moment gave her the stats and defenses to survive the remainder of the strike. If that were the end then Joshua would be left wide open for Cinder who was preparing to strike out with her legs along with Jade's tails that were coming back around for another attack, but Joshua had one last useful skill that would help in his current situation.

He looked at Lily with a triumphant half battered smile as his reset skill came into effect and a second echo strike cut through her in the exact same spot with all of her defenses taken out of the way. With that strike Lily and all of her beast companions disappeared from the arena leaving Joshua to fall out of the air alone as the winner.