Battle

The feared tier stands there inside the smoke-covered area, without moving an inch, without doing anything at all. The smoke enveloped his entire body, yet he did not decide to do anything to let it disappear.

This action of the demon confused Mary. The demon's decision not to do anything about the smoke that covers his surrounding area is something that Mary did not think would happen.

Staying on the edges of the smoke to hide as cover, Mary stood there pondering.

Weird, he's not doing anything this feared tier demon. What I initially planned involved him blowing away the smoke and then I would strike the moment he did, but since he is not doing anything, I might have to change my approach real quick.

Instead of doing a high-damage singular opening strike, I should just approach this quickly and stealthily. 

First, using a small amount of mana, I would enchant my hands with earth magic fully covering them with a transparent hardened crystal-like material in the form of claws. 

Second, using enchant again, I would add a fire enchantment on my hand to add a little bit of burn damage when I strike.

Third, in order to move stealthily inside the smoke, I would use wind enchantment on my foot to mask any sound I make when moving.

Then lastly, this smoke itself is made by a talisman with my mana, making it possible for me to control it... However, I might have to use a bit more mana. Surely, it would be fine.

I glanced at the demon in the middle, his giant physique and his massive body were just standing inside the smoke. Even after all the preparations I made, he did not move a single inch of muscle.

"What's up with this demon" I whispered to myself.

I then proceeded with caution and stealth as I started to attack this demon.

Although this demon is doing something unusual right now, he is still feared tier. Approaching this carelessly could lead to my death and worse an invasion of earth.

Moving stealthily inside the smoke I surveyed the demon first by going in circles.

Right now, his full of openings, but I'm scared of attacking the cause of his tier... You know what, I'll attack his vulnerable sides first so he can't counter, which is his back!

I fully rushed towards the demon's back and with my claw-like hands, I slashed his back and then hid again in the smoke. 

Next, his vulnerable points.

One by one, I attacked his ankles, knees, neck, and so on without making a sound and without changing the form of the smoke.

I attacked again and again as if fully enveloping his body with the slashes of my claw-like hands, with the fire enchantment, the burn damage of every attack should deal massive damage to the demon.

Then, with my last attack. I plunged toward his chest aiming for the arm of the demon. My hands are both pointed toward that direction and without even any changes in the smoke. 

"This should end thi---"

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The smoke dissipated in an instant. 

A loud voice exploded from the demon forcing the smoke to spread in the air, making everything near the demon blown away from it.

Mary, who was about to launch his final attack, was blown toward a nearby tree because of the massive explosion made by the sound of the scream of the demon.

Confusion dwelled in the eyes of Mary as he immediately tried to stand up from what just happened.

"What was that...? Where did that random explosion come from?" Mary who was still injured from the explosion saw the immense and overwhelming demon still standing there, the only difference was that the smoke was gone.

"I truly underestimated his size inside the smoke... Wait...?!"

Mary looked at the demon again and was baffled. He scanned his entire body and there he saw, that not a single attack of Mary landed a scratch on the demon.

"No way... not a single attack that I did worked??? What amazing durability," he said amazed at what he saw. However, he then raised his guard as the demon started to move.

"Hey, you." The demon moved one step closer to Mary. "Are you the other High tier that Zhang Xiu talked about?"

"Other than Zhang Xiu, I'm the only high tier that I know of on this planet that are not demons, so yes."

The demon looked at Mary and stared, darkness loomed in his eyes, and an eery aura of calmness exuded from the demon.

"Say... although not effective on me, that attack you just did... That was enchantment was it not? If so, have you met a demon that also uses enchantments?"

The demon waited for an answer. The pressure exuded made it so Mary could no longer look at the eyes of the demon. Due to the pressure, Mary can't seem to tell a lie.

Watching how the demon did not have a single scratch on him, I have to re-assess the situation. I have to figure out just how strong this demon can hit, and... It's not like I can lie at this point. Mary thought to himself

"Ah yes, there was one, he was the same rank as me... Though, I already killed him." Mary said provocatively forcefully making eye contact with the demon and making the demon react.

And react the demon did.

The moment their eyes met, everything felt weird for Mary, It was as if everything near him started to get bigger and wider. That includes the demon, the already big physique started to get gigantic and his already massive inducing aura became even more overwhelming, drowning even. 

Not only that, Mary started to feel the change around him on his body. His feet seemed to be glued to the ground, his arms and hands refusing to move, his sight started to falter, and his other senses became deluded and clouded at the same time.

W-What is happening...? With his eyes still maintaining contact with the feared tier demon, Mary thought to himself.

"I see..... GO DIE" 

After a slight moment, the demon appeared in front of Mary in a squatted position. His arms are on his side with his muscles contracting, hands in a fist position. The demon was about to punch Mary. 

From Mary's perspective, the fist was already in front of his face. As if time had stopped, his thought process did not fail him. Although his body began to feel slow and weak, his mind did not betray him and started thinking faster than anyone could.

"I'm gonna die if this fist reaches me."

"I can't die just yet."

"I have to move my body."

"If so, What should I do."

"Should I duck?"

"Even if I could the fist is already in front of me, every action that I could do, it would reach my face before I could even move a millimeter."

"Then magic? is there any magic?"

"No time to cast some magic spells at this moment, I also think that it would cost me a lot of my mana."

"Ugh DAMN IT! Why am I not skillful enough."

"Even if I am skillful I don't think It would do anything though...."

"Wait, skills!"

"I have a primordial skill for this! My primordial skill; the venerable one!"

"I don't need to do anything special to unlock it, plus it's quick and reliable to fight this demon"

"That's right! let's unlock that!"

in quick succession, a light appeared on the chest of Mary, the light grew brighter and it started to cover his body.

It was a battle of speed, who could be faster? The first of the feared tier demon or the permission, which is the key to Mary's primordial skill.

As the fist grew closer and closer, the key shined brighter and brighter. 

BOOOOOOM!

But at last, the fist was faster. And the demon punched Mary's face.

Or so the demon thought.

In the milliseconds that the battle occurred. A quick shadow appeared out of nowhere and snatched Mary Away

"Wait What!" the demon looked in front of him and saw that his enemy was no longer there

"Where?!?!" searching everywhere, the demon surveyed his surroundings and there he saw a silhouette of a girl carrying a body over her right shoulder. The demon looked pissed watching them get away, he couldn't believe that his enemy was taken away from him by someone he fully knew. 

"ZHANG XIUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"