Enraged

'Frog King Stomp'

[MP -5]

Ayaan's kick landed on the body of the Abyssal Guardian. His legs are almost horizontally extended with his torso held vertically in the weird grip of that guardian.

*BOOM*

With an explosion, the Abyssal guardian's flesh rippled and its foot was lost. The force of the stomp pushed Ayaan away, but maybe the grip was too tight, the Abyssal guardian's body moved along with him.

Its grip loosened over him. Ayaan took this chance to forcefully change his position, ensuring that his head wouldn't be bashed straight into the rocks of the cave.

Instead, he pulled the Abyssal guardian by its tendrils and put its body between him and the cave wall.

*CRASH*

They crashed into the wall. Ayaan's feet landed on the ground, slightly dissipating the force. The recoil allowed him to escape its grip. The Abyssal guardian on the other hand, destroyed the cave wall. It opened up the path to the other cave.

But a translucent barrier appeared and blocked it from moving away.

[████████████████░░░░░░] 82.0%

HP-4

Ayaan lost 4 HP points. The Abyssal guardian dropped 6. It groggily stood up and looked at Ayaan who already increased the distance between both.

His mind is running at a million miles per second.

'It's fast'

'Flexible'

'Can't hit it with bullets from afar'

'Deceptive at close range'

'How to tackle it?'

'How?'

As he was thinking, he noticed something else. The leg that got separated from its body collapsed into water and some gooey mess, meanwhile, new legs sprouted out of its body. The Abyssal guardian is in the same shape it originally was.

If not for the obvious size difference Ayaan managed to catch with his keen perception, no one would guess that it was injured at all.

Ayaan took deep breaths as he observed its every movement. Only after it was completely healed did it make a move again.

*POOF*

*POOF*

Water bullets came at him. Ayaan lunged forward with the Black Iron sword in his hand. He slipped past the water bullets and slashed it on the side.

*SWOOSH*

The arm came at him, trying to swat him down. Ayaan dodged again. He swung his sword at it's body. But a water shield conjured at that spot, blocking his move. He slipped to the side dodging another attack and shot a water bullet at close range.

The water barrier appeared again. Just from a glance, the water barrier is extremely similar to the Aqua manifest. Ayaan dodged another swing. At least at the close range, it is unable to use the water bullets like he did. So, he was putting his agility to an extreme test as he dodged his swings.

Another focus he had is to ensure that he wasn't covered by its body like before. He made sure he wasn't cornered like before.

'It's learning'

Ayaan thought as he crouched down to dodge an attack, he swung his sword at its foot. It raised the foot and stomped on the sword. Ayaan turned the blade to the side, making the sharp edge make contact with its stomp.

At the same time, he took out another sword and used that to block a swing from its arm. As he stood up, the second arm came at him, while it tried to push him down with its first arm. His sword still blocking that, he was pushed forward.

Ayaan's body leaned back unnaturally. He felt like his spine could have snapped at any moment. As the second arm came at him, he shifted his weight a bit, left the first sword that was under its foot, took out a third black iron sword, and stabbed it in the arm.

The incoming swing halted, but the force was still immense. It rocked his balance, almost making him fall. He regained it instantly, by kicking the ground and using that force to knee it. It raised its leg again to stomp on his leg. At that moment, Ayaan let go of the second sword took out a fourth, and stabbed it again.

Both a human and the Abyssal guardian are in close combat, Ayaan's primary focus remained to dodge its attacks and he almost refrained from using the water bullets, the creature itself remaining unnaturally agile even with its huge body trying to counter his attacks.

The only problem it has is that Ayaan never ran out of the swords.

It is learning how the sword could harm it and trying to ensure Ayaan is disarmed or his weapons are occupied. But whenever it tried to do that, Ayaan just abandoned the exchange and quietly took out another sword stabbing into its body.

Of course, Ayaan isn't unscathed either.

An occasional brush of the blow is making him lose 2 to 3 points of HP. The exchange continued for more than five minutes. Ayaan could feel his fatigue mounting up. He is tempted to get out of his exchange. He is tempted to just stay far away and shoot.

That's what his survival instinct is telling him. Every swing of that monster, every attempt to take a bite at him, its constant attempts to once again bind him and consume him, and the progress it is making every second to adjust to his rhythm are all making his instinct for survival slowly overtake his instinct for combat.

It is almost like there are two people in his mind, trying to wrestle for control. He suppressed his instinct for survival and just stuck with combat.

When the Abyssal Guardian finally managed to get into complete sync with his rhythm, its arm came at Ayaan swinging. The second one came from above, trying to swat him to death.

A faint glow appeared on Ayaan's chest. His body suddenly grew taller with energy surging through. A scaly pattern appeared on his body. His speed increased, strength increased and all of a sudden, he was a bit too fast compared to the rhythm he just established. He took out a Black iron sword and stabbed it in the hand that came from above.

A pill entered his mouth in a flash, the water from the surroundings surged to his right arm and formed a pointy shield.

*BAM*

The swing of the guardian was blocked by the shield. Ayaan stabbed the shield down into its leg. Crouched along with it, he took out another black iron sword and swung it at the blocked arm.

The sword went across the arm, shaving off its flesh. He made a swift turn and swung the same sword at its neck.

Its speed slowed down a lot. The cut out part of its flesh is in the process of regeneration and Ayaan took the chance to make a move.

He dodged its arm and climbed on to its back.

Aqua manifest pills, entered his mouth one after another.

Giant cleavers appeared in his hand as he stabbed it on the back, on its neck, a slice to cut off its arm, and slashed its leg open.

For the next few minutes, Ayaan is no different from a snake. He swirled around it as he slashed the weapons conjured out of Aqua manifest. He shaved off one layer at a time, with his major goal being cutting the creature into as many pieces as possible.

The Level 5 creature, for a moment felt cornered by the Level 3 Ayaan.

"Hu.. HU… HUUU…N"

It made those weird sounds as if they are groans and tried to fight Ayaan back. But while healing, its body became extremely slow. And the slower it was, the easier it became for Ayaan to attack.

Ayaan stopped right in front of the monster's face.

He was panting heavily. He was on constant edge.

He really couldn't find any obvious weakness for this monster apart from the stagnant state it got into whenever its flesh has been severed from it. Apart from that, this monster is way too adaptable, which is obviously a strength.

So, Ayaan decided to use both its strength and weakness against it.

He fought with it in close combat. He put his body's agility and endurance to an arduous test. Almost at the risk of getting caught every moment. This made the monster adapt to restricted movements. Its range of movements has been reduced to a small area.

Once he is sure that its rhythm matched his and became predictable, he changed his style again. He was all over it and it looked like it paid off.

[███████████░░░░░░░░░░] 56.0%

As for the price.

His fatigue has increased by 20. He is barely thirty points away from becoming toast.

His health has dropped by another 20 points.

His MP reserves reduced to 72 points. Even though he reduced the usage of the water bullets, he still had to use it a few times to block and deflect the attacks. Almost all of his Black iron swords are out and are lodged at various places in its body.

Ayaan stood there and stared at the unmoving Abyssal guardian. He had the Black Alloy Sword in his hand, while his other hand is extended to its head at point blank.

'Water Bullet'

*POP* *POP* *POP*

He shot three bullets, all with 3 MP points each.

[██████████░░░░░░░░░░░░] 50.0%

He is surprised that one bullet is only giving him two points each. But he didn't hesitate. He still has 63 points, that will be 21 bullets. That will take down the health by 42%. The last eight percent, he is sure he can manage to take it down, when it was that down on its dumps.

The calculation was quick in his mind and execution was quick in his actions. He started shooting it down.

*POP* *POP* *POP**POP*

Four bullets.

12% drop.

The flesh near its head and the upper torso, couldn't take the onslaught and started falling away, revealing something Ayaan didn't expect.

At its central torso, there is a bright glowing orb, that was previously covered with its fluid flesh.

As soon as it revealed and its health bar reached 38%

[███████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░] 38.0%

The glow on the orb increased. The surrounding water conjured together and in an instant…

*POOF*

Before Ayaan could even react, the water conjured into a bullet and hit him point blank on his chest.

*WOOSH*

Ayaan was sent flying as he took the hit. Air left his lungs, blood threatened to come out of his mouth, he couldn't breathe. He could feel his ribs crack and his mind is clouded for a moment.

*CRASH*

He crashed into the ground and the only thing that he made sense of in that moment was…

Fatigue+5

HP-20

One direct hit reduced his HP by 20 points in an instant. And the notification that followed it made him clear his mind.

[Abyssal Guardian is now Enraged. It is going berserk]