Once, Kai would have thrown himself out of the way of such a powerful monster attacking him. Now he found himself charging back at it, and it wasn't an impulsive choice. They'd seen that the Claw Tyrant was fast and cunning while pursuing it, and his partner was stronger at range. Fighting it directly to tie it down was the smart move.
Before they collided, Kai swiped a hand through the air and drew on Rockspider's Claw. The energy impacted the Claw Tyrant, but as he'd feared it only flinched and kept charging. When they struck, Kai struck out with his other arm, smashing against one of the finger-like limbs slashing at him.
It felt like punching steel, but both he and the monster only rocked back slightly. Ever since his Physique had evolved, Kai had felt more in tune with his monstrous abilities, and he used them to their fullest extent now. Fully leveraging Direboar's Strength, he was able to go toe-to-toe with the Claw Tyrant as their battle shredded the rocks around them.
All of his claw techniques deflected off the steel-like skin, but the Claw Tyrant couldn't do much better. The ends of its finger legs were extremely sharp, so he focused on avoiding stabbing movements. Occasionally the sharp edges cut him, but the injuries were shallow enough that Aquagorgon's Health could heal him even as they fought. And taking full advantage of Gomodo's Stamina meant that he could keep throwing himself into the brawl blow after blow.
As he'd hoped, Zae Zin Nim used that time to prepare herself. Her next qi attack was far more concentrated, a drilling burst directly to the center of the Claw Tyrant's body. It staggered into a nearby crag and demolished half the hill, but the qi didn't seem able to penetrate the skin. From her vantage point, Zae Zin Nim scowled.
At least her attack had thrown off the Claw Tyrant's vicious assault. Kai leapt after it before it could recover and grabbed one of its fingers. Using his full strength, he was able to pull it into the air. The monster was heavier than expected, so the best he could do was a quick arc smashing it into the largest boulder he could find.
The boulder cracked and the Claw Tyrant let out a screech, but it didn't break. Instead it flailed briefly on its back, fingers stabbing in all directions as the teeth on the bottom gnashed. When Kai tried to dodge in for a finishing blow, one of them caught him on the leg and sent him skidding over the stone.
With startling speed the Claw Tyrant caught itself with two fingers and threw itself at him. He got a horrifying glimpse of its underside where a palm should have been: up close, its maw was formed of dozens of smaller steel claws, all reaching for him.
It tried to slam its mouth down over him and Kai instinctively threw up his hands, grabbing one of the tooth-like claws. Immediately the jaws tried to close, biting his hand, but he squeezed back harder and felt something begin to give.
If it had been just two claws against two hands, he might have won. But he was far more outnumbered than that.
The Claw Tyrant kept pressing down, more claws from its maw stretching out to slash at his arms. Kai grimaced as he saw the lines of blood bloom across his forearms. It was taking all his strength to keep it back, but it had the upper hand. Deeper inside the beast's maw there were larger claws with even sharper tips that he was afraid would tear him apart. If it continued like this, he'd be drawn into the terrible finger-teeth and consumed.
So he drew on Isulfr's Bite and consumed back.
In his experimentation in the wastelands, Kai had been able to instantly eat large chunks of monsters' bodies. He wasn't as successful against a powerful monster like the Claw Tyrant, but it worked. Fingers vanished and his mouth was suddenly filled with bitter metal.
The Claw Tyrant reared back with another screech... and then plunged down at him again.
Before it could land, Zae Zin Nim struck it directly in the mouth with a qi blast. It staggered to the side instead of collapsing on him and she somehow alighted on its back, slamming her palm against the smooth surface. He heard the bell-like chime of her palm strike and the monster dropped almost flat, but she still didn't manage to break its durable body.
Kai scrambled to his feet as she landed another strike, then abruptly the Claw Tyrant distorted and blurred. It flipped around with unnatural speed, suddenly facing Zae Zin Nim with its maw. She didn't flinch and launched a qi strike into its mouth, but that meant that its claws were closing in to spear her from all sides.
She managed to deflect two and the other four stopped just outside her body, held back by an aura of blue flame. But her Coldfire Corona hadn't been upgraded along with the rest of her when she broke through to a new cultivation stage, so it couldn't protect her for long.
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Before those fingers could keep stabbing, Kai stomped down on one with all his strength. He didn't break the exterior, but he managed to drive it deep into the ground. Stepping off the finger, he swung his hand against the others with the strongest claw he could muster, driving them back.
It didn't make the monster flinch as much as he'd hoped, but it bought Zae Zin Nim time. She stepped out of the most dangerous zone, then to his surprise landed a palm strike on another of the fingers. When a third tried to stab her from behind, she dodged and grabbed it around the joint. Sometimes he forgot how strong she was now, in part because she was such a small woman and in part because he remembered her coughing blood and struggling just to stay alive.
When she jammed another finger into the ground, Kai understood what she was doing. The Claw Tyrant broke from the ground underneath him, intending to curl up around Zae Zin Nim and stab her again. He let it go for just a second, then lunged after it as soon as the back of the claw was exposed.
Instead of trying to pin the limb in place, Kai tugged backward. She had two fingers buried in the stone and he grabbed the others, pulling them back in the wrong direction. A cracking sound split the air, followed by a screech.
Now the Claw Tyrant was bent backward, both of them on the opposite side of the maw which gnashed uselessly. Zae Zin Nim wrapped her arms around the fingers she had in the ground, holding them in place, and nodded to him.
Time to finish this.
Kai might not have been able to overwhelm the Claw Tyrant directly, but now he had leverage. He jerked another of the claws backward, bending the monster even further in the wrong direction, and plunged it into the ground. Then, before it could recover, he leapt directly at the straining back and struck it as hard as he could.
This time the creature finally broke with an agonizing screech. All the claws tore out of the ground, slashing together, but they were on the opposite side and the creature's dying spasms only shredded the stone. Soon it crumpled up, somewhere between a dead spider and a fist.
"Well." Zae Zin Nim sat down on a stone and caught her breath. "That wasn't completely insane."
"I guess not." Kai approached the body carefully, just to be sure it was dead. "Do you think it was as dangerous as the two worst ones at Monskon City?"
"The distortion was weaker, but it was at least as lethal."
Sometimes it still seemed insane that he could fight monsters that could kill an entire team of veteran hunters. But he'd grown immensely stronger during the incursion and Zae Zin Nim had broken through to the Nascent Foundation stage, plus they had good teamwork. Taking on monsters this powerful was a risk for them, but not an insane one.
Especially given the rewards. Despite bleeding from so many minor injuries, Kai was hungry.
He experimented a little with one of the long claws and eventually tore free one of those they'd damaged at the joint. Once he was working with something smaller, he was able to open his mouth and bring his bite technique down on it. Less of the claw disappeared than usual, but the steel in his mouth tasted so satisfying that he took another bite.
Even though he tasted the monster in his mouth, he thought he was consuming its essence directly and he could feel it growing within him. He still didn't have full control of his vision of an island, but it was more easily accessible. Bite by bite, the Claw Tyrant was joining the other monsters bound within him.
And unfortunately, the stomach-churning fullness returned. After a single finger Kai felt as though he would burst with all the power. It had been like this ever since the battle when he'd eaten so many other monsters.
"Ugh, the fullness is back," Kai said. "I don't think I can manage this much power. I feel too full."
"Really now?" Zae Zin Nim stood nearby and gave him a flat stare. "And yet you're still eating."
His body was still going through the motions. Kai could only shake his head. "It's hard to explain. It's like I'm starving and want to eat more, yet as soon as I eat I'm full. The two sensations should cancel out, but they just conflict."
"I'm not even surprised."
Kai ate until he could feel a discrete power inside him. That left him feeling full in every sense, and there were also two claws remaining. While he took a moment to recover, Zae Zin Nim tied them together to join their pack of other monster parts. Within the grisly remains, he found and extracted the monster's core, which would be the proof of their hunt.
"I have been thinking about your power," Zae Zin Nim said abruptly. She had picked up their pack as if to leave, then stopped to look back at him. "You said that some of the monsters within you seem asleep?"
"That's how it feels, anyway. I can't really draw on the unfamiliar powers."
"Your soul may be an abomination, but it's still a soul. Every cultivator I've ever met has a limited capacity, they cannot simply learn an infinite number of different paths. You may need to be more selective with the powers you eat."
"I don't want to just throw them away, though." Kai glanced inward and frowned as he considered it. "What should I do?"
"You may very well be the only person who has ever done this before." Zae Zin Nim shrugged. "I have no guidance for you. But I think the answer will be found in analyzing the different powers and choosing between them."
"Hmm. Maybe you're right."
"I'm going into town to trade. You should cultivate until I return, but maybe you can also meditate on your unnatural powers." Having said that, she turned away and skimmed over the wasteland with the claws wobbling on her back.
Kai remained seated for a while, considering what she said. She was certainly right that he would need to choose, but Kai didn't think that he needed to cut out or reject part of his power. The longer he used the monstrous abilities, the more he felt he was beginning to understand them.
So he had a much better idea. Time to finally try it.