Chapter 982 982. Surging Dragon Punch
Luckily, Leavemealone was a combatant with a good mana sense. He had sensed the duration by which the Tiger Demon’s mana was frozen had shortened with each punch. Hence, he knew that the effectiveness of the stuns was dissipating.
Leavemealone backflipped when the Tiger Demon came chomping, then used Roll to add the distance.
Ihhi and Mohmed, after drinking recovery potions, had approached and added what little damage they could when the Tiger Demon was under perpetual stuns. Once they saw Leavemealone retreat, they also did so.
Tiger Demon didn’t give the two natives any mind. Their hits were like mosquito bites. The one who mattered was the white tiger emperor bearer. With its four legs, it ran and chased after Leavemealone.
A large wave rushed from the side and struck the Tiger Demon, halting its chase. It was a Ki Wave powerful enough to stagger it. It turned to the side and saw Domon. The one that could cause him trouble was not just the white tiger emperor bearer.
“Damn it!” Leavemealone uttered after putting a safe distance. He had hoped that he could take advantage of the stun effect.
Carnelia’s voice was heard then, “Try again later. Some beings had the ability to adapt to a status effect if it was used repeatedly on them. But it was not permanent. After some time, its immunity to the weakness will revert to normal again.
“I see. Ok, thanks for the tips,” Leavemealone thanked his fairy companion, before dashing back toward the Tiger Demon.
The Tiger Demon paused because of Domon’s attack. It was pondering which one it should focus its attention on, but then it saw Leavemealone rush toward it. Seeing this lowly creature come at it like it was some common monster to be vanquished, its anger was roused again.
Leavemealone used his vampire skill, Mesmerize, when the Tiger Demon was staring at him. But this skill was completely useless. The Tiger Demon didn’t even notice that Leavemealone had used the skill.
The Tiger Demon roared and lunged forward, its jaw opened wide.
Leavemealone used Illusive Form. His speed picked up and he left multiple images on his trail. This skill illusive effect wasn’t too effective since the Tiger Demon could sense mana, but the increase in speed was still helpful in helping Leavemealone dodge the Tiger Demon’s lunge.
After successfully dodging the lunge, Leavemealone didn’t stop. He continued to run at high speed as he knew the Tiger Demon’s attack speed was exceptionally fast. He ran around while keeping it at a healthy distance, thus avoiding its attacks was more manageable.
The Tiger Demon was extremely frustrated. The way it tried to catch Leavemealone was like a cat trying to catch the ever-illusive red laser light.
At one point, the Tiger Demon roared. It was a different roar this time. It was a skill, similar to the first shockwave roar it made when it revealed itself. It was weaker compared to that first roar since the Tiger Demon had received a weakened effect from the Tiger God. This roar skill must have just completed its cooldown duration.
Even so, the shockwave caught Leavemealone by surprise. He staggered from it and his running stopped. He also received some damage.
Tiger Demon’s claw came when Leavemealone’s movement stopped. He had no choice but to receive the blow. His two arms adopted a pose. When the claw came, the arms spun. With his martial art, Cycle of Shade and Shadow, he redirected the huge claw to the side. The claw smashed the ground hard.
The Tiger Demon boggled again that another attack that was supposed to hit had missed its target. Leavemealone wanted to run at this time, but the Tiger Demon wasn’t giving him the chance. It jumped to where Leavemealone was heading. Leavemealone dejectedly found himself remaining under the Tiger Demon’s huge body.
Domon and the others had been keeping a distance. They understood that their chance of surviving direct contact with the Tiger Demon was not high. Now that Leavemealone was in trouble, they simultaneously advanced to try to take its attention away, allowing Leavemealone a chance to escape.
However, when they were advancing, six shadows leaped from the Tiger Demon’s body. These shadows landed on the ground and rushed toward them. It was the tiger-men again. But this time, all these Tiger-men were level 65 rare elites.
It was another of the Tiger Demon’s skills, dark slaves, a summoning skill. The Tiger Demon only used this skill now after trapping Leavemealone in its range. It wanted to cut Leavemealone’s escape path. Once the white tiger emperor bearer was vanquished, these other trespassers would be easy to be dealt with.
Leavemealone thought he saw a smile on the Tiger Demon’s huge face.
Despite seemingly being trapped, Leavemealone didn’t despair. His concentration was solid as he paid attention to the Tiger Demon’s every movement. He also activated his bloodline second skill, Beast Instinct.
Leavemealone was the first one who had the King of Beast bloodline. So, he had the most time accumulating the monster essences for leveling up the bloodline. During the travel to Popoki Village, he finally defeated enough beast-type monsters to get his King of Beast bloodline to level 5. Beast-type monsters were not that rare to find, after all.
This second skill was also a buff skill that improved his speed and also his reaction time by twice, meaning he saw the enemy’s movement at twice the time slower.
𝚗𝗈𝓥𝑒𝓵𝐧𝐄xt.𝗰𝑜𝚖
With the enhanced perception, Leavemealone was able to see the extremely fast Tiger Demon’s claws came mauling at him and reacted accordingly. His two feet shifted, and the Tiger Demon claw missed him by a few inches.
The Tiger Demon stomped again, and it missed again.
It happened again and again, to the Tiger Demon’s frustration. It didn’t understand. It had forced Leavemealone to such a corner, so he was unable to escape its melee scope. Why was the result still the same as before?
Leavemealone had used the Eight Diagram Illusory Steps, a movement art Domon had taught to many of the guild core members. Jack was the most proficient with this martial art. Although Leavemealone learned this movement art later than most other guild members, his aptitude for martial art allowed him to improve much faster. To the point that he was the third most proficient user of this art after Jack and Domon.
This movement art gave its user the capability to dodge attacks even within a limited space, which was the situation Leavemealone was in at the moment. All his escape paths were blocked. No matter which way he headed, he was within the Tiger Demon’s reach.
Hence, he continued to shift his position as the Tiger Demon relentlessly trying to squash him. Leavemealone was in full concentration. He could not afford a mistake. With how fast the Tiger Demon was, there was a time when he was unable to perfectly dodge. At that time, he made up for it using his own art, Cycle of Shade and Shadow, to redirect the attack.
With these two arts, he persisted below the Tiger Demon. But he knew that he couldn’t continue like this forever. Once the Tiger Demon’s other skills were off cooldown, like that breath attack, for example, he would be in trouble. He hoped the others could come to his aid before that happened.
Of his three comrades, Domon was the most likely to come to his aid first. The six tiger-men had split into three groups of two and confronted Leavemealone’s three comrades. Despite having a lower level, Domon had no problem fighting two level 65 rare elites. But he still needed time.
Mohmed was somewhat in a tie. His agility and precise control allowed him to dodge most of the two tiger-men’s assaults, but this also put him in a more passive situation. He couldn’t counterattack much and he knew that he would need a long time to settle this battle.
Ihhi was in the worst situation. She was seriously losing in terms of level, and there were even two opponents ganging on her. Her advantage was only that she had better equipment than these tiger-men and she also possessed more and better battle skills.
Overall, the situation was not good for Leavemealone. It seemed that he couldn’t rely on the others to arrive in time to help him escape his predicament. He could only depend on himself. All he needed was a chance.
He pushed his concentration to the limit. He had never been more focused in his life. Even though his perception had already slowed all the movements around him, his focus somehow made him perceive things even slower. He saw the Tiger Demon open his mouth and came at him again for another bite. He didn’t move away this time. He stood his ground and gauged his timing.
His left fist punched out. He executed Ki Bullet. The energy ball from his fist rushed forward. Normally, such a small attack meant nothing for a being such as the Tiger Demon. But this energy ball accurately hit the Tiger Demon’s right eye. This caused its eyes to close and its attack was halted for a tick.
During that tick, Leavemealone’s other fist went upward. As he did, the image of an oriental dragon appeared. It rose following his uppercut. This was another martial art that Domon had taught, Surging Dragon Punch.
Both Leavemealone’s right fist and the oriental dragon connected with the Tiger Demon’s lower jaw. The uppercut produced a loud impact sound. The Tiger Demon’s head was forcefully smacked up.
Although the Tiger Demon had been hit several times, the most those hits did was cause it to pause. Even Domon’s mana-manipulation Ki Strike only made it turn its head a little. This was the first time a hit caused the Tiger Demon to careen away.