5th Stage Foundation Building

As Xiang Xiang and the three Gaphoms were heading into the village, there was a loud roar coming from within the forest. Normally, Xiang Xiang would have ignored this but she realized that it wasn't too far away from their location.

"What the hell was that?" Xiang Xiang asked as she turned around and looked into the forest. A flock of birds could be seen escaping from within the trees.

And only a few seconds later, a terrifying figure emerged from within the forest. Its body was made completely of a dull, white, and rough rock. Even its head was made of rock and its eyes were big blue glowing circles.

It let out another roar, staring directly at the three Gaphoms, sending chills down their spines.

'S-Such power!' (Luciana)

'What realm is that monster in...'(Dina)

'...'(Jelvin)

The three stared fixedly at the 12 feet tall rock monster as it stomped out of the forest, slightly shaking the ground with each step.

They were all terrified but Xiang Xiang looked at the monster with a confused expression on her face. She didn't know where the monster came from or why it was seemingly angry at the Gaphoms but one thing was for sure.

That monster was either on her level or higher.

Xiang Xiang quickly released her killing intent, making the Gaphoms gasp for air. Everything around them happened too quickly for them to process so they tried to run towards the village.

The villagers were terrified so they abandoned their jobs and duties and ran straight to their homes.

"Where did this monster come from and how did I not notice it before?" Xiang Xiang asked herself this question as she gazed at the monster with narrowed eyes.

She then condensed some of her Evil Qi into a small flat spike and threw it at the monster. It wasn't paying attention to Xiang Xiang at first, but then it noticed her harmless attack to test its defenses.

Though, there was really no need for that. Anyone could tell that this monster was basically a walking fortress just by looking at what its body was made of.

The small spike that Xiang Xiang threw hit the rock monster and barely scratched it, much less injured it. It bounced back off and fell to the ground before turning back into Evil Qi.

Xiang Xiang frowned slightly when seeing this. She then condensed some Evil Qi into a cross blade and advanced towards the rock monster.

"What type of magical beast is this? I haven't heard of it from the trio or the disciples from the Billowing Clouds Sect... Is it even a magical beast?" Xiang Xiang was confused and at a loss as to what exactly she was fighting but she knew it was strong.

Which meant she had to take the battle seriously and pay attention to every little move.

Since she was only 5 feet and the rock monster was more than double her height, and width, she had to treat it like the Yin Yang Bear.

Use its body to her advantage.

Suddenly, the rock monster swung its left arm towards Xiang Xiang at a terrifying speed. Just the speed and force along caused a cyclone of wind to build up around its arm.

'Damn!' Xiang Xiang cursed in her head as she made sudden movements and split-second decisions and jumped into the air to dodge the attack. Xiang Xiang sighed in relief after seeing that she just barely avoided the rock monster's attack.

'This thing is incredibly fast and powerful, does it even have any weakness?' As Xiang Xiang was observing the rock monster, she noticed a dimly shining crystal embedded in its head.

'It doesn't look like a monster core, so what is it? Is it even a natural magical beast or someone's creation?'

"You three, go inside the village and close the gates. This monster is too powerful for you all to resist!" Xiang Xiang said as she landed on the ground. She didn't look at them either, she focused completely on the rock monster.

'Alright, bring it on big guy! I've killed a magical beast the same size as you before, and I'll do it again!'

Xiang Xiang condensed another cross blade in her right hand and rushed at the rock monster again. The rock monster brought both its hands into the air and slammed the ground in front of Xiang Xiang, causing the ground to rise up like waves without erupting.

Xiang Xiang immediately responded by jumping into the air and onto the rock monster's arms. It's arms were stuck in the ground for a moment because of its weight which provided Xiang Xiang with an opening.

She didn't bother trying to get to its head and instead threw one of her cross blades at the rock monster's head.

ROOAAR!

The rock monster roared yet the cross blade kept advancing until it pierced the rock monster's head.

'Damn, if this thing was a regular magic beast it would have been dead from that. I would have pierced its brain...'

Xiang Xiang felt annoyed and tried to advance up the rock monster's arms.

Sadly, the rock monster lifted its arms into the sky, along with Xiang Xiang.

'...Shit.'

Xiang Xiang didn't panic too much and instead condensed a ton of rapiers from Evil Qi and rotated them around herself.

Without wasting any time, she commanded the rapiers to go forth and most of them pierced into the arms of the rock monster.

Xiang Xiang condensed around 20 rapiers and 10 were embedded in each arm.

'Now I have leverage that I can use to constantly get on top of the rock monster. The only disadvantage is that the rapiers will evaporate in a few minutes since I'm not supplying them with my Evil Qi.'

While falling, Xiang Xiang reached out and grabbed onto one of the embedded rapiers on the rock monster's left arm.

ROOARR!

The rock monster became irritated and tried to punch Xiang Xiang off of its other arm.

The terrifying force came fast, so Xiang Xiang wasn't able to react to it.

The most she did in the little time she had was cover her entire body in Evil Qi and bare the attack.