Breaking Point [3]

Bathed in sunlight, Victor felt the intense warmth on his skin. He looked around his surroundings.

Jagged, sharp cliffs were spread across the terrain. Tall, and thick, yet their towering forms gave a feeling of weakness, as if a single attack was enough to put them down.

He imagined how he could use them to his advantage, but only a few ideas came to mind.

Such ideas were good, but not enough to guarantee a win. He discarded them soon after thinking of them.

But he didn't really need to think of a winning strategy. He already had one, and his strategy worked in all cases except the ones where he's dead or severely outmatched.

Victor ruled the latter as something extremely unlikely to happen.

At that moment, Nyx shifted uncomfortably on his shoulder, not used to being under the sunlight.

He put his hands over Nyx, shielding her away from the bright sun.

On the other hand, Sentinel was calm and didn't show any signs of discomfort. He even raised his head arrogantly, glancing at Victor discreetly to show off.

Victor mused, slightly worried. He had briefed the two of them about the fight beforehand, but he wasn't sure if they were ready.

'They'll be fine.'

Shaking his head, he thought to himself. It wasn't them he should be worried about, it was himself.

The extent of a tamed beast's capabilities depended on the intelligence and ability of the beast-tamer.

Victor was confident he can manage just fine. How hard was it to command beasts? He handled missions in the past with more people under him, compared to that, this was nothing.

However, since this was his first time experiencing a fight between beast-tamers, he didn't know how these fights usually started or proceeded.

He had watched a few videos in the internet, and found some useful guides in the Sky Forums, but they weren't real experience.

'I'll just have to do what I do best then.'

Victor let out a long sigh, his breath seemingly merging with the air. He closed his eyes.

There was no need to worry about his inexperience in beast taming, that was irrelevant.

The reason he was confident in winning was because in a fight between beast-tamers, the tamed beasts weren't the only ones who were fighting…

Victor eyes snapped open, looking at Darren on the opposite side. His eyes were as cold as ice, contrasting the bright and sunny atmosphere.

'… The beast-tamers themselves also have to make sure they stay alive to command their beasts.'

If it was a fight between two humans, he was confident enough that no brat was going to beat him.

Especially not by one who's chin was so stuck up on his ass. Before this match even began, he already won.

"Victor Cruz! Heh, did you forget that I awakened a Gold Quality core? Hahaha!"

Darren laughed, not showing any of his previous weakness. He seemed to have found some confidence in himself after seeing Victor's lineup.

"I'll end this match in a flash! Stormtalon!"

"Scree!"

On his shoulders, a lightning brown hawk let out a loud shrill as it flew to the sky.

The Stormtalon's piercing eyes focused on Victor. With a flap of its wings, lightning seem to come out and electrify the air.

With thundering shriek, a bolt of lightning shot off to Victor!

"Kri!"

At that moment, Sentinel jumped and took the attack with his body. He froze for a moment, the lightning entering his body, but after taking the attack, his scales turned to a shade of dark yellow!

Adaptive Scales was in-full effect!

Victor's eyes widened, immediately understanding the skill. Sentinel could take any attack and change the color of his scales according to the attribute of the attack.

Afterwards, Sentinel would gain resistance from attacks of the same attribute!

This was a great—no, amazing skill!

***

"A Darkscale Scorpion that can turn yellow…? Could it be?!"

Xianna's eyes widened, standing up from her seat.

"A mutant beast?!"

Everyone was shocked.

***

Naturally, Darren also saw the Scorpion's change. But he didn't understand the purpose of it.

The thought that the beast would be a mutant variant didn't cross his mind. He simply commanded once more: "Stormtalon! Again!"

Gathering energy, the Stormtalon Hawk flapped its wings again. But this time Victor wasn't planning on staying at the same position.

Covering Nyx's body with his hand, he ran to the back of the nearest cliff, while Sentinel followed from behind.

"Stormtalon, follow them!" Darren smirked, "Planning on hiding, eh? Where's your confidence from earlier!? Where's your arrogance, huh!? Victor Cruz, come out! Hahahaha! Coward!"

The Stormtalon maneuvered through the harsh air. With great speed, it easily went to the back of the cliff where Victor and his beasts were hiding.

As soon as the Stormtalon arrived, it flapped its wings strongly, blasting a lightning bolt towards Victor!

But Victor didn't turn his back, as though he had complete trust on Sentinel.

Sentinel jumped and received the attack without any issue. He glared at the Stormtalon Hawk, responding with a screech of his own.

"Kriii!"

"Scree!"

Seemingly enraged, the Stormtalon let out a screech. It flapped its wings once more, generating electricity.

Using the opportunity Sentinel gave him, Victor ran to another cliff and hid behind.

Observing the Stormtalon's movements, Victor moved again once he knew which direction it was going.

Before the Stormtalon caught up, Victor immediately circled around the cliff, not running away immediately.

The Stormtalon quickly arrived, sweeping its gaze. But it was confused as it couldn't find Victor and the rest.

Of course it couldn't, Victor and the rest were in its blindspot!

The Stormtalon Hawk circled around the cliff, but at that moment, it suddenly caught movement from the corner of its eye.

Victor was already on another cliff!

While the Stormtalon was trying to find him in one cliff, he had already ran to hide in another!

He was using the Stormtalon's blindspot to hide from it, then when the opportunity arrived, he advanced forward!

Slowly but surely, he's reaching where Darren stood.

"Stormtalon! Forget about him!" Darren quickly realized that Victor was approaching, "Hit the cliffs instead!"

Across the field, Victor heard Darren's orders and calmly looked at Sentinel.

"Krii?"

The latter tilted its head, confused.

"Scree!"

At that moment, the Stormtalon found the cliff where Victor was hiding! But instead of targeting him, it shot the lightning bolt to the cliff, crashing it to the ground!

Bam!

Rumble!

The cliff fell to the left, causing the sandy dunes to erupt. The Stormtalon Hawk flapped its wings, deflecting the sands coming its way.

From the corner of its eye, it spotted the sharp stinger of the yellow Darkscale Scorpion, recognizing it as one of Victor's tamed beasts.

But the Darkscale Scorpion was covered by rubble, seemingly unconscious.

'Did I get him?'

From a distance, Darren thought as he looked at the mess he caused. He turned his attention to his tamed beast, the Stormtalon, and saw it slowly fly towards one of the cliffs.

'Hm? What is it doing….'

As his tamed beast slowly approached the cliff, an ominous sensation slowly grew in his heart.

Thinking of something, his eyes widened in fear, he warned loudly: "No… wait…"

But it was too late.

Just as it thought it succeeded, the Stormtalon Hawk heard its master's scream across the field: "Stormtalon! Come back!'